Dosage protection system and method for an aquatic environment

ABSTRACT

An aquatic environment monitoring system and method that includes correction for adverse conditions in the monitoring system involving the development of confidence levels for certain conditions in the monitoring system using stored information related to the aquatic environment and/or the monitoring system. Corrections to adverse conditions may be made by the environment monitoring system automatically by the monitoring system and manually via communications to a user of the system.

RELATED APPLICATION DATA

This application is a continuation application of InternationalApplication No. PCT/US12/69209, filed Dec. 12, 2012, entitled “AquaticEnvironment Monitoring and Dosing Systems and Apparatuses, and Methodsand Software Relating Thereto,” which application claims the benefit ofpriority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/630,450,filed Dec. 12, 2011, entitled “Aquarium Monitor,” both of which areincorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

This application is related to commonly-owned U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/713,495, entitled “Submersible Chemical IndicatorApparatuses For Use In Aquatic-Environment Monitoring/Measuring System;”and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/713,537, entitled “AquaticEnvironment Water-Quality Monitor Having a Submersible ChemicalIndicator Wheel;” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/713,568,entitled “Embedded Indicator Dye Monitoring System and Method for AnAquatic Environment;” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/713,668,entitled “Combined Illuminator/Light Collectors For Optical Readers;”and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/713,668, entitled “ChemicalIndicator Obstruction Detection System and Method For An AquaticEnvironment;” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/713,714, entitled“Rate of Change Protection System and Method for an AquaticEnvironment;” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/713,737, entitled“Monitoring of Photo-Aging of Light-Based Chemical Indicators UsingCumulative Exposure Tracking, and Systems, Methods, Apparatuses, andSoftware Relating Thereto;” and U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/713,773, entitled “Monitoring of Photo-Aging of Light-Based ChemicalIndicators Using Illumination-Brightness Differential Scheme, andSystems, Methods, Apparatuses, and Software Relating Thereto;” and U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/713,818, entitled “Assisted Dosing ofAquatic Environments For Maintaining Water Quality Therein, and Systems,Methods, Apparatuses, and Software Relating Thereto;” and U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/713,864, entitled “Optical Reader Optic CleaningSystems Having Motion Deployed Cleaning Elements, and Methods ofCleaning An Optical Reader Optic,” each of which is filed on the sameday as this application: Dec. 13, 2012, each of which is incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the field of water qualitymanagement, such as for fish and coral aquariums, swimming pools, andhot tubs, among other aquatic environments. In particular, the presentinvention is directed to aquatic environment monitoring and dosingsystems and apparatuses, and methods and software relating thereto.

BACKGROUND

Measuring and maintaining the quality of water is important in a widevariety of circumstances. For example, for keeping fish and/or otheraquatic life, the quality of the water must be kept within certaintolerances to keep the aquatic life healthy. As another example, thewater in swimming and diving pools, hot tubs, and other sports,recreational, and therapeutic bodies of water need to be kept at certainlevels of quality not only to maintain that water's clarity, but also tokeep the users of these bodies of water safe from waterborne illnesses.As yet another example, the quality of potable water needs to bemaintained within a range of tolerances as to a variety of chemicalconstituents for any one or more of a number of reasons, such as to makethe water safe for ingesting, less harmful to distribution systems, andto promote healthfulness of the drinkers (e.g., in the case of addingfluorine and/or other nutrients). Those skilled in the art will readilyappreciate that these are but a few examples of settings in which it isimportant to monitor and/or control the quality of water.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

In one implementation, the present disclosure is directed to a method ofmonitoring errors in an aquatic environment monitoring system. Themethod includes measuring one or more error values in the environmentmonitoring system using the environment monitoring system; determiningat least one confidence level based on the one or more error values;determining if the confidence level exceeds a threshold value stored inassociated with the environment monitoring system; and generating acorrection instruction using a dosing calculator associated with theenvironment monitoring system, the correction instruction for correctinga condition associated with the one or more error values.

In another implementation, the present disclosure is directed to amachine-readable hardware storage medium including machine-executableinstructions for performing a method of monitoring errors in an aquaticenvironment monitoring system. The instructions include a set ofinstructions for measuring one or more error values in the environmentmonitoring system using the environment monitoring system; a set ofinstructions for determining at least one confidence level based on theone or more error values; a set of instructions for determining if theconfidence level exceeds a threshold value stored in associated with theenvironment monitoring system; and a set of instructions for generatinga correction instruction using a dosing calculator associated with theenvironment monitoring system, the correction instruction for correctinga condition associated with the one or more error values.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, the drawings show aspectsof one or more embodiments of the invention. However, it should beunderstood that the present invention is not limited to the precisearrangements and instrumentalities shown in the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is high-level block/schematic diagram illustrating an aquaticenvironment setup that includes a water quality monitoring and dosingsystem;

FIG. 2 is a high-level block/schematic diagram illustrating an exemplaryimplementation of a water quality monitoring and dosing system thatutilizes a communications network for implementing variousfunctionalities of and/or relating to the system;

FIG. 3 is a high-level block/schematic diagram illustrating an exemplaryimplementation of a standalone water quality monitoring and dosingsystem;

FIG. 4 is a high-level block/schematic diagram illustrating a chemicalindicator reading system;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an exemplary arrangementfor a chemical indicator on a chemical indicator apparatus;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an alternative exemplaryarrangement for a chemical indicator on a chemical indicator apparatus;

FIG. 7A is high-level schematic diagram illustrating a first exemplarychemical indicator apparatus/reader arrangement;

FIG. 7B is high-level schematic diagram illustrating a second exemplarychemical indicator apparatus/reader arrangement;

FIG. 7C is high-level schematic diagram illustrating a third exemplarychemical indicator apparatus/reader arrangement;

FIG. 7D is high-level schematic diagram illustrating a fourth exemplarychemical indicator apparatus/reader arrangement;

FIG. 7E is high-level schematic diagram illustrating a fifth exemplarychemical indicator apparatus/reader arrangement;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary aquariummonitoring system that includes a discoidal chemical monitoringapparatus;

FIG. 9 is a partially exploded perspective view of the water qualitymonitoring system of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is an isometric view of a chemical indicator disc that can beused, for example, with the monitoring system of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is an isometric view of another chemical indicator disc that canbe used, for example, with the monitoring system of FIG. 9, wherein thedisc includes a reading-range-enhancing electrode for enhancing thereading range of a chemical indicator onboard the disc;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating how the reading range of achemical indicator can be enhanced using electrical charge;

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view illustrating several components of themonitoring system of FIG. 8;

FIG. 14 is a graph of x-axis magnetic field strength versus offset anglefor several exemplary magnet sizes in a magnetic drive coupling that canbe used in a monitoring/measuring system of the present disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating design considerations that can be usedto design a combined I/LC of the present disclosure;

FIG. 16 is an enlarged view of an optical reader that includes a unitarymonolithic combined illuminator/light collector (I/LC) that can be usedin a water quality monitoring system;

FIG. 17 is an exemplary graph of relative maximum reading intensityversus target height for the combined I/LC of FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 is an alternative combined I/LC that is an assembly ofseparately manufactured parts;

FIG. 19 is an isometric view of a chemical indicator disc having acleaning element for cleaning one or more components of a water qualitymonitoring unit;

FIG. 20 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of the cleaningelement of FIG. 19;

FIG. 21 is a partial cross-sectional view of another cleaning elementthat can be used with a chemical indicator apparatus for cleaning one ormore components of a water quality monitoring/measuring unit;

FIG. 22 is a schematic/block diagram illustrating various components ofthe monitoring system of FIG. 8;

FIG. 23 is a schematic/block diagram illustrating a monitoring systemhaving non-wired communication of power and data;

FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram of an aquarium setup having automateddosing functionality;

FIG. 25 is a partial perspective view of a chemical indicator disc,illustrating chemical indicators aboard the disc being read in amulti-reading mode;

FIG. 26 is an isometric view of an optical reader system thatilluminates a target with multiple spots of illumination;

FIG. 27 is an exemplary graph of conductivity versus time illustratingthe use of water-conductivity electrodes being used to determine thedistance of a chemical indicator apparatus from the electrodes;

FIG. 28 is a schematic/block diagram of a system that enables storage ofdata on a chemical indicator apparatus;

FIG. 29 is a plan view of a chemical indicator and ten measurementillumination spots, five being of one brightness and five being of asecond brightness, for illustrating a method of compensating forphoto-aging of the chemical indicator;

FIG. 30 is an exemplary plot of reading intensity versus expose time fora particular chemical indicator illustrating a method of compensatingfor photo-aging of the chemical indicator;

FIG. 31 is a graph of reading intensity versus stepper position forreadings of two chemical indicators when moving a chemical indicatordisc in a clockwise direction;

FIG. 32 is a graph of reading intensity versus stepper position forreadings of two chemical indicators when moving the chemical indicatordisc in a counterclockwise direction;

FIG. 33 is a graph of combined error between clockwise andcounterclockwise chemical indicator readings versus stepper offsetwherein no friction is present between the chemical indicator disc andits mount(s);

FIG. 34 is a graph of combined error between clockwise andcounterclockwise chemical indicator readings versus stepper offsetwherein friction is present between the chemical indicator disc and itsmount(s);

FIG. 35 illustrates a confidence matrix for a water quality monitoringsystem for use in determining actions as a function of uncertainty ofreading accuracy based on various error inducers;

FIG. 36 illustrates a screenshot of a graphical user interface thatallows a user to input information for implementing a water-qualitymonitoring and dosing system in an aquarium setup;

FIG. 37A illustrates one example of a confidence level plot forexemplary measured pH values;

FIG. 37B illustrates another example of a confidence level plot forexemplary measured pH values;

FIG. 38 is an isometric view of an exemplary linear combined I/LC thatcan be used in an optical reader;

FIG. 39 is an elevational view of a water quality monitor having astationary magnetic drive for driving a chemical indicator disc;

FIG. 40 is a partially exploded view of a water quality monitoringsystem having a cylindrical chemical indicator apparatus;

FIG. 41 is a partial schematic/partial isometric view diagramillustrating a rotary chemical indicator apparatus having replaceablechemical indicator elements;

FIG. 42 is a partial isometric view of a linear chemical indicatorapparatus having replaceable keyed chemical indicator elements;

FIG. 43 is a schematic/block diagram of a coral aquarium setup having anautomated dosing system that can control the growth rate of coral;

FIG. 44 is an isometric view of part of a water quality monitoringsystem designed and configured to be installed in plumbing;

FIG. 45 is an isometric view of an aquarium sump containing a waterquality monitoring system;

FIG. 46 is a partial cross-sectional view of a water quality monitoringsystem in which electrical components are located outside of the waterbeing monitored;

FIG. 47 is a partial cross-sectional view/partial block diagram of awater quality monitoring system concealed in an aesthetic feature insidean aquarium;

FIG. 48 is a high-level schematic diagram of a closed-loop setup havinga water circulation system containing a water quality monitoring systemand optional dosing system;

FIG. 49 is a high-level schematic diagram of an open-loop setup having afeed-water system containing a water quality measuring system andoptional dosing system; and

FIG. 50 is a high-level diagram of a computing system that can be usedto contain and execute software instructions for implementing one ormore of the functionalities described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some aspects of the present invention are directed to systems formeasuring and/or monitoring the quality of water in various aquaticenvironments and for dosing, when the monitoring determines that thewater quality is outside one or more predetermined tolerances, the waterwith one or more additives in corresponding respective amounts thatbring the water quality into the predetermined tolerance(s). As thoseskilled in the art will readily understand from reading this entiredisclosure, despite the fact that this introductory section addressessystems for monitoring and/or dosing, other aspects of the presentinvention lie within individual components, apparatuses, methods, andsoftware of such a system, as well as within methods, apparatuses,systems, and software not directly involved in monitoring and/or dosingbut related thereto, such as systems, methods, and software for socialnetworking based on water quality monitoring and methods, systems andapparatuses that are especially adapted to be used with variousmonitoring and dosing systems and apparatuses disclosed herein.

Before describing several exemplary water quality monitoring and dosingsystems, the term “aquatic environment” is defined, for example, to givethe reader a sense of the wide applicability of the systems,apparatuses, methods, and software disclosed herein. As used herein andin the appended claims, “aquatic environment” shall mean any environmentwherein water is present and for which it is desired to measure at leastone parameter indicative of a quality of the water. In turn, “quality”is measured by the presence, absence, and/or amount of one or morechemicals, including minerals, in the water, and/or the presence,absence, and/or amount of one or more other materials, such as organicmatter, inorganic particles, bacteria, etc., in the water, and anycombination thereof. Examples of aquatic environments include, but arenot limited to: aquariums, including aquarium sumps and aquariumplumbing; swimming/diving/wave pools, including swimming/diving/wavepool plumbing; hot tubs, including hot tub plumbing; fish ponds,including fish pond plumbing; potable water supplies, including plumbingtherefor; sewage treatment infrastructure; water fountains; waterdisplays; lakes and lagoons, and control structures and plumbingtherefor (such as at amusement parks and other facilities having highlycontrolled environments); and food processing facilities that use water,for example, to wash food items, cook food items, transport food items,to name just a few. Those skilled in the art will certainly be able tothink of other examples of aquatic environments for which teachings ofthe present disclosure will be pertinent. In this connection, while manyof the examples herein are directed to aquarium set ups for keepingfish, coral, and/or other aquatic life, skilled artisans will readily beable to adapt the fundamental teachings herein to virtually any otheraquatic environment wherein water quality measurement and/or monitoringand dosing is desired.

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a water qualitymonitoring and dosing system 100 being used to monitor one or moreparameters of water 104 in an aquatic environment 108 and to provideproper dosing of one or more additives 112 to the water so that thequality of the water is maintained within its desired tolerance(s),depending on the number and type of parameters measured. It is notedthat aquatic environment 108 can be any aquatic environment, such as oneof the aquatic environments noted above, wherein water qualitymonitoring and dosing is desired. It is also noted that examples ofmeasurable parameters are described below in detail. That said, thoseskilled in the art of water quality measuring will readily understandwhich one or more water parameters need to be measured for a givenaquatic environment.

System 100 includes a monitoring system 116, a dosing calculator 120,and a dosing system 124. Before describing each of these parts of system100, it is noted that the diagram in FIG. 1 does not necessarilyrepresent distinct components of the system, rather, this diagram isintended to convey functionality of the system over physical form of thesystem. Thus, while system 100 can be composed of components thatcorrespond in a one-to-one manner to the functionality blocks of FIG. 1,this need not be so. For example, dosing calculator 120 need not be astandalone device; it can be in any suitable form, such as a set ofsoftware instructions executed onboard a component of monitoring system116, onboard a component of dosing system 124, or onboard anothercomponent or device, such as a computing device (not shown) (e.g.,webserver, smartphone, home computer, laptop computer, tablet computer,desktop computer, etc.) located remotely from aquatic environment 108.Because those skilled in the art will be able to conjure a variety ofways of discretizing and componentizing the functionality blocksrepresenting monitoring system 116, dosing calculator 120, and dosingsystem 124, it is not necessary to describe all combinations andpermutations herein for those skilled artisans to appreciate the myriadways that system 100 of FIG. 1 can be implemented across componentslocal to aquatic environment 108 and/or across components locatedremotely relative to the aquatic environment.

Monitoring system 116 is designed and configured to monitor (i.e.,measure repeatedly) at least one parameter indicative of the quality ofwater 104 in aquatic environment 108. Though the number of measuredparameters can be as few as one, in many applications, such as aquariummonitoring applications, the number of measured parameters willtypically be four or more, as will be seen below in the context ofspecific examples. Monitoring system 116 can monitor each of theparameters using one or more suitable technology(ies), such as one ormore chemical indicators that each undergo a physical change that can besensed (read), one or more electrodes, one or more chemical probes,among others, and any combination thereof. Monitoring system 116generates one or more outputs 128 indicative of the measurement(s) takenby the monitoring system and outputs the resulting signal(s) to dosingcalculator 120. In one example, monitoring system 116 takes themeasurement(s) and outputs the corresponding output(s) 128 multipletimes (e.g., periodically or at differing intervals) over a given timeperiod in a manner that attempts to ensure that none of the measuredparameters goes out of range or goes out of range long enough to riskdamage to aquatic environment 108, its contents, and/or its users. Eachoutput 128 can be in any suitable form, such as a raw analog signal, araw digital signal, or a digitally converted value, among others. Thetype of output used in a particular implementation may depend, forexample, on whether dosing calculator 120 is implemented withinmonitoring system 116 where raw signals can be readily utilized oroutside of the monitoring system, such as in dosing system 124 or on aremote device, such as a computing device (not shown) (e.g., laptopcomputer, tablet computer, webserver, smartphone, desktop computeretc.), where it is easier to convey converted values via a suitablecommunications protocol, such as transmission control protocol/Internetprotocol (TCP/IP), among others. Other examples of computing devicesthat can be used are disclosed below in connection with FIG. 50.

Dosing calculator 120 is designed and configured to determine whether ornot any one or more of the measured parameters are out of acceptablerange and, if so, how much of one or more additives 112 that dosingsystem 124 should add to water 104 with the goal of restoring the one ormore out-of-range parameters to the corresponding respective acceptableranges. Depending on the type of a particular additive 112, the dosingmay be made all at once or it may be made over a period of time. Forexample, some additives cannot be added too quickly without detrimentaleffects, and so need to be dosed at a rate that avoids the detrimentaleffects. In order for dosing calculator 120 to make its out-of-range anddosing determinations, it must know certain information about aquaticenvironment 108 and/or water 104, such as the volume of the water, thenature of environment (e.g., it contains certain fauna and/or flora),and the acceptable range(s) of the measured parameter(s), among others.Dosing calculator 120 may communicate dosing instructions 132 to dosingsystem 124 in any manner suited to the implementation. For example, ifdosing calculator 120 is located so that it must use a datacommunications protocol, such as TCP/IP, the dosing instructions mayinclude the additive type(s) and an amount of each additive 112 thatdosing system 124 should dispense. In another data communicationsprotocol example, the dosing instructions can include instructions thattell dosing system 124 which additive(s) to dispense and how long todispense each additive needed. This latter example requires that dosingcalculator 120 knows how much additive is dispensed per unit of time. Inother implementations in which dosing calculator 120 communicatesdirectly with dosing system 124, the instructions can be in anotherform, such as a voltage signal or a digital signal. As will becomeapparent from reading this entire disclosure, monitoring system 116 cancomprise or consist of any of the monitoring systems, or part(s)thereof, described herein or any other suitable monitoring system.Likewise, dosing calculator 120 can be implemented in any suitablemanner, such as any one of the manners described in this disclosure.Similarly, dosing system 124 can comprise any of the dosing systems, orpart(s) thereof, described herein or any other suitable dosing system.It is noted that although FIG. 1 has been described above as includingmonitoring system 116, dosing calculator 120, and dosing system 124, anaquatic environment setup of the present disclosure can include any oneor combination of those components or other similar components, severalexamples of which are described in this disclosure. In addition, it isnoted that while monitoring system 116, dosing calculator 120, anddosing system 124 are described above without much detail on specificfeatures, it is noted that any one of these components can be providedwith any one or more of the applicable features described hereinrelative to specific examples.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a water quality monitoringand dosing system 200 implemented over a communications network 204,which comprises wired communications links, wireless communicationslinks, or both Examples of a communications network include, but are notlimited to, a local area network, a wide area network, a cellulartelecommunications network, and a global network (e.g., the Internet),other network type, and any combination thereof. System 200 includes anaquatic environment 208 containing water 212 that is monitored by amonitoring system 216 for one or more parameters relating to its qualityand is dosed, as necessary, with one or more additives by a dosingsystem 220 in a manner that maintains the quality of the water withinone or more tolerance bands. As with system 100 of FIG. 1 above,monitoring system 216 and dosing system 220 of FIG. 2 can be, forexample, any of the monitoring systems and dosing systems, respectively,described herein or any other suitable monitoring or dosing system. Alsoas with system 100 of FIG. 1, the one or more parameters can be anyparameter(s) relevant to the nature of the water quality at issue.

Monitoring system 216 includes a monitor 224 that monitors one or moreof the parameters, for example, by reading one or more indicator devices(not shown), such as one or more chemical indicators, one or moreelectrodes, one or more probes, etc. In the exemplary system 200 of FIG.2, monitoring system 216 generates monitor data 228 containinginformation regarding readings of the one or more parameters and sendsthe monitor data to a data processor 232 via communications network 204.Data processor 232, which can reside on one or more computing systems236, for example, on one or more webservers, one or more client devices(e.g., tablets computers, laptop computers, smartphones, etc.) or othercomputing system in data communication with communications network 204,processes monitor data 228 as needed to allow the monitor data to bedisplayed to a user and/or to control dosing system 220. In thisconnection, data processor 232 can include a dosing calculator 240.Alternatively, dosing calculator 240 can be located elsewhere, such aswithin dosing system 220. In addition, if dosing calculator 240 is notpart of data processor 232, monitor data 228 can be processed by dataprocessor 232 prior to being sent to dosing calculator 240 or,alternatively, the monitor data can be sent directly to the dosingcalculator.

Each computing system 236 may also include a user interface 244 thatallows a user to access monitoring data 228 either in its unprocessedformat or in a processed format, or both. As an example of unprocessedformat, researchers, professional aquarists, enthusiasts,troubleshooters, etc., may find it desirable to have all of the “raw”data provided by monitor 224. On the other hand, consumers, casualusers, hobbyists, etc., may only desire a version of monitor data 228that has been processed, such as to present the data to the user in asimplified form, such as graphically, binary (e.g., in tolerance/out oftolerance), etc. Those skilled in the art will readily be able tounderstand the benefits and formats of processed and unprocessed formatsof monitor data 228, such that further description is not necessaryherein for them to appreciate the broad scope of the present invention.It is noted that the processing and displaying of monitor data 228 anddata derived therefrom through processing can be distributed over two ormore computing systems 236. For example, in a webserver/client context,the webserver may provide some initial processing of monitor data 228while a client device, for example, via a smartphone “app” (i.e., asoftware application), receives the processed data from the webserverand uses that data to generate one or more suitable graphical displayson the client device representing the monitor data.

In another example, a client device may receive unprocessed monitor data228, in which case a software application on the client device may usethe unprocessed data directly to create suitable graphical displaysand/or allow a user to use the unprocessed monitor data in another way.As yet another example, a computing system 236, such as a smartphone,laptop computer, tablet computer, desktop computer, etc., may receivemonitor data 228 directly, for example, via a wired or wireless dataconnection, and that system may include a software application forprocessing monitor data 228, or not, and use either the processed dataor unprocessed data, or both, in any suitable manner, such as forproducing graphical displays or transferring the data to a spreadsheetor other program for detailed analysis, among many other possibilities.In still a further example, monitor 224 itself may provide a relativelyhigh level of data processing, such that monitor data 228 is alreadyprocessed for high level use, such as graphical display by one or morecomputing system 236. It is noted that if monitor 224 processes itsreading data, it may contain one or more onboard displays 248, which canbe, for example, visual (e.g., visual indicator(s), electronicdisplay(s), etc.), aural (e.g., sound generator for generating one ormore sounds, spoken words, etc.), or a combination of visual and auraldisplays.

Dosing calculator 240 can be embodied and realized in any of a number ofways. In addition to being located at various locations within system200 as noted above, dosing calculator 240 can be configured to providedosing instructions for manual dosing or automated dosing, or both.Manual dosing can be performed in any one or more of a variety of ways.For example, if dosing system 220 is manually controllable, i.e.,requires a human operator to control the dosing, dosing calculator 240can be augmented with a user interface 252 that displays an indicationof the amount of each additive that the user needs to cause dosingsystem 220 to dispense. Depending on the type of additive and anylimitations of dosing rate, such indication may be accompanied byfurther dosing instructions advising the user of the dosing rateparameters. In this connection, depending on how they are implemented,user interface 252 and/or dosing calculator 240 may need to be aware ofinformation regarding dosing system 220, such as make and model, thatallow the user interface and/or dosing calculator to provideinstructions specific to the dosing system being used.

In another example, dosing system 220 may not be present at all, suchthat the dosing needs to be carried out virtually entirely by a humanuser 256, using, for example, chemicals and/or other additives that areprovided in bulk form in individual containers and need to be manuallydispensed or taken from such containers by the human user. In thisexample, if each/any of the additives is available in differing forms(e.g., powder, liquid, gel, etc.) and/or in differing concentrations,etc., then user interface 252 and/or dosing calculator 240 may need tobe aware of information regarding the specific additive(s) being used,such as brand and formulation, that allow the user interface and/ordosing calculator to provide instructions specific to the particularadditive(s) being used. Examples of dosing systems and additives forparticular applications are described below. However, those skilled inthe art will readily understand that these examples are illustrative andnot limiting.

Whereas FIG. 2 illustrates a water quality monitoring and dosing system200 that can be monitored and/or controlled from virtually any locationhaving access to communications network 204, which in the case of theInternet, for example, can be virtually any location on earth (e.g.,using a satellite link for highly remote locations) or even off ofEarth, FIG. 3 illustrates a setup 300 including a monitoring system 304and a dosing system 308 that are in very close proximity to one another.Indeed, in some instantiations, they are combined into an integral unitwith one another, and in some cases, into an integral unit with acomponent 312 of an aquatic environment 316, such as an aquarium, asump, plumbing, a filter, a heater, an overflow, a skimmer, etc., andany suitable combination thereof. In other embodiments, whereinmonitoring system 304 and dosing system 308 are not integrated into acommon unit, they can nevertheless be located close together, such as indiffering parts of aquatic environment 316 or differing parts of acomponent 312. Depending on the spacing of monitoring system 304 anddosing system 308 from one another, they can be in data communicationvia any suitable means, such as wired communication or wirelesscommunication. Examples of suitable wireless communication includesshort-range radio communication and infrared communication, amongothers.

In some instantiations, setup 300 can be self-contained, i.e., notrequire communication of monitor data to any devices outside ofmonitoring system 304, and dosing system 308 or communication of controldata, for example, data needed to set operating parameters of thesystem, from any device outside of the monitoring and dosing systems.However, it is noted that system 300 can be outfitted with such externalcommunications capability if so desired. In such cases, outsidecommunications capability can be provided via any suitable wired orwireless technology available. In either case, monitoring system 304and/or dosing system 308 can be provided with any suitable userinterface(s), such as interfaces 320 and 324, that allow(s) a user tocontrol operating parameters of system 300.

FIG. 4 illustrates a water parameter reading system 400 that can, forexample, be adapted for use in any one of water quality monitoring anddosing systems 100, 200, and 300 of FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, respectively, orother water quality monitoring and dosing system, and/or that can beadapted for use as a water quality monitoring system and/or as a watertesting system, among other things. For example, water parameter readingsystem 400 can be integrated into monitoring system 116 of FIG. 1 or anyother monitoring system disclosed herein, In the example of FIG. 4,water parameter reading system 400 includes a chemical indicatorapparatus 404 comprising a holder 408 that supports one or more chemicalindicators 412(1) to 412(N) each of which is designed and configured toundergo a detectable physical change as the amount of one or moreconstituents/properties that make up the water (not shown) underconsideration. Examples of detectable physical change include, but arenot limited to, change in fluorescence, fluorescence decay (e.g.,lifetime fluorescence), phase fluorescence, change in electromagneticenergy absorptance (change in reflectivity), and change in color, amongothers. In one embodiment, each chemical indicator 412(1) to 412(N)comprises one or more indicator dyes immobilized in a suitable medium,such as a gel, a polymer matrix (such as a cellulosic matrix), etc. Inone example, immobilization includes covalent bonding of a dye tocellulose fibers which in turn are immobilized in a medium such as ahydrogel.

In one example, when one or more of chemical indicators 412(1) to 412(N)are submersible chemical indicators, it is noted that the chemicalindicators are stable in water, i.e., the active dyes remain containedin the mediums and they do not mix with, and they do not change, thewater in which they are submerged. Each chemical indicator 412(1) to412(N) is preferably reversible. Examples of constituents/properties ofwater, the levels of which can be detected using suitable chemicalindicators, include, but are not limited to, pH, hardness, calcium,magnesium, oxygen (O₂), carbon dioxide, ammonia, phosphate, nitrate.Depending on the type of aquatic environment (not shown, but see, e.g.,aquatic environments 108, 208, and 316 of FIGS. 1, 2, and 3,respectively) for which monitoring or testing is being performed usingsystem 400, it may be desirable to test certain combinations ofindividual parameters. A number of examples of such combinations aredescribed below for various fresh water, saltwater, and brackish waterembodiments. It will be understood that those examples are merelyillustrative, and that those skilled in the art will understand whatparameter(s) and/or combinations of parameters are desirable for a widevariety of applications, such as applications involving various stagesof potable water treatment, sewage treatment, etc. Also described beloware various examples of chemical indicators and the correspondingparameters they can be used to measure.

In another example, an aquatic environment monitoring apparatus mayinclude a plurality of immobilized chemical indicators supported by achemical indicator holder. Various holders are discussed further below.Such a chemical indicator holder having a plurality of immobilizedchemical indicators can be illuminated by light (e.g., excitation lightfor fluorescence, reference illumination, etc.) from an optical reader.Various optical readers are also discussed herein. In one example of achemical holder that can be used with an aquatic environment monitoringsystem (such as those disclosed herein), a chemical holder (e.g., adiscoidal holder) includes a chemical indicator dye sensitive fordetecting calcium in the aquatic environment, a chemical indicator dyesensitive for detecting magnesium in the aquatic environment, and achemical indicator dye sensitive for detecting carbon dioxide in theaquatic environment. In this example each of the chemical indicator dyesare immobilized in an immobilizing medium, such as a cellulosic hydrogelmedium. Examples of a chemical indicator dye sensitive for calciuminclude, but are not limited to, a calcium detecting aminonaphthalimide,a calcium detecting perylenediamide, and any combination thereof.Examples of a chemical indicator dye sensitive for magnesium include,but are not limited to, a magnesium detecting dye based on aaminonaphthalimide, a magnesium detecting dye based on a photon inducedelectron transfer process (PET), a magnesium detecting dye based on aintramolecular charge transfer process (ICT), a magnesium detectingperylenediamide and any combinations thereof. Examples of a chemicalindicator dye sensitive for carbon dioxide include, but are not limitedto, a carbon dioxide sensitive dye based on a aminonaphthalimide, a acarbon dioxide sensitive dye based on a photon induced electron transferprocess (PET), a carbon dioxide sensitive dye based on a intramolecularcharge transfer process (ICT), a carbon dioxide sensitiveperylenediamide and any combinations thereof.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary arrangement of a chemical indicator 500on a holder 504 of a chemical indicator apparatus 508. In this example,chemical indicator 500 is secured to holder 504. With thisconfiguration, chemical indicator 500 is directly exposed to water 512for which the chemical indicator is designed for use. During use,chemical indicator 500 is illuminated by light 516 from a suitableoptical reader 520 and return light 524 is collected therefrom by theoptical reader. Chemical indicator 500 can be any one of chemicalindicators 412(1) to 412(N) of FIG. 4. FIG. 6 illustrates anotherexemplary arrangement of a chemical indicator 600 on a holder 604 of achemical indicator apparatus 608. In this example, chemical indicator600 is secured to holder 604, which in this example is transparent atleast to the wavelength(s) of light necessary for the chemical indicatorto be used as an optical indicator. Alternatively, if holder 604 isgenerally opaque to the relevant wavelength(s), it can be provided witha suitable window 612 that is transparent to the necessarywavelength(s). A light blocking backing 616 that blocks light from thebackside 620 of holder 604 is positioned adjacent chemical indicator 600between the chemical indicator and water 624. Light blocking backing 616can be porous so as to allow water 624 to reach chemical indicator 600,since the opposite side of the chemical indicator is not in contact withthe water because of holder 604 and/or window 612. In one example, lightblocking backing 616 can be a light blocking hydrogel, such as acarbon-containing hydrogel. During use, chemical indicator 600 isilluminated by light 628 from a suitable optical reader 632 and returnlight 636 is collected therefrom by the optical reader. Chemicalindicator 600 can be any one of chemical indicators 412(1) to 412(N) ofFIG. 4. Referring again to FIG. 4, holder 408 can have any of a widevariety of shapes and can be made of any one or more of a wide varietyof materials suitable for a particular application. For example, for asaltwater application, the material(s) should not corrode or otherwisebe attacked by the saltwater. Regarding shape, exemplary shapes forholder 408 include, but are not limited to, planar, discoidal,cylindrical, frusto-conical, spherical, ellipsoidal, parallelepiped,etc. Further regarding shape, holder 408 can be made in any suitableform, such as solid (i.e., without openings), fenestrated, trussed,stretched membrane, etc., and can be made as a unitary monolithic partor assembled from two or more discretely manufactured parts. Regardingmaterial(s) of construction, virtually any material(s) can be used.Fundamentally, there is no particular limitation on how holder 408 canbe constructed and made.

Water parameter reading system 400 further includes one or more readers416(1) to 416(M) designed and configured to read the physical change(s)of one or more of chemical indicators 412(1) to 412(N). Some embodimentshave a one-to-one correspondence between the number of readers. That is,each chemical indicator 412(1) to 412(N) has a corresponding respectivereader 416(1) to 416(M), i.e., M=N. In other embodiments, there arefewer readers 416(1) to 416(M) than chemical indicators 412(1) to412(N), i.e., M<N, and in still other embodiments there are multiplereaders per chemical indicator, i.e., M>N. Any of these embodiments canoptionally include one or more mechanisms 420 for moving one or morereaders 416(1) to 416(M) relative to chemical indicator apparatus 404,or for moving the chemical indicator apparatus relative to thereader(s), or both. Depending on the configuration of reading system 400and chemical indicator apparatus 404, the movement that the one or moremechanisms 420 can impart to the driven part (e.g., one of or group ofreaders 416(1) to 416(M) or chemical indicator apparatus 404) can be inany one or more of the six degrees of freedom (three linear+threerotational) available for motion.

FIGS. 7A to 7E illustrate five exemplary movement scenarios for readersand chemical indicator apparatuses. Each of these and many otherscenarios can be implemented in water parameter reading system of thepresent disclosure, such as system 400 of FIG. 4. In FIG. 7A, a chemicalindicator apparatus 700 includes a rectangular, planar holder 702supporting twelve chemical indicators 704(1) to 704(12) arranged in a2×6 array. In this example, a single reader 706 is movable in two lineardirections relative to chemical indicator apparatus 700 by a suitableactuator 708 so that the reader can be positioned proximate to each oneof chemical indicators 704(1) to 704(12) for reading that chemicalindicator. For reasons described in more detail below relative to errorminimization, actuator 708 can be designed, configured, and suitablycontrolled to position reader 706 at multiple positions proximate toeach chemical indicator 704(1) to 704(12).

FIG. 7B shows a chemical indicator apparatus 720 that includes arectangular, planar holder 722 that supports twelve chemical indicators724(1) to 724(12) arranged in a 3×4 array. In this example, threereaders 726(1) to 726(3), corresponding respectively to the three rowsof chemical indicators 724(1) to 724(12), are stationary, and chemicalindicator apparatus 720 is movable in a single linear dimension relativeto the readers by a suitable actuator 728. For reasons described in moredetail below relative to error minimization, actuator 728 can bedesigned, configured, and suitably controlled to position the ones ofchemical indicators 724(1) to 724(12) at multiple positions relative tothe corresponding respective readers 726(1) to 726(3).

In FIG. 7C, a chemical indicator apparatus 730 includes a discoidalholder 732 that supports four chemical indicators 734(1) to 734(4)arranged annularly about the holder. In this example, a single reader736 is stationary, and chemical indicator apparatus 730 is rotationallymovable about a rotational axis 738 by a suitable actuator 739. Forreasons described in more detail below relative to error minimization,actuator 739 can be designed, configured, and suitably controlled toposition each chemical indicator 734(1) to 734(4) relative to reader736.

FIG. 7D illustrates a chemical indicator apparatus 740 that includes acylindrical holder 742 that supports eight chemical indicators 744(1) to744(8) arranged on the interior of the holder in two bands of fourindicators each. A single reader 746 is provided. To enable singlereader 746 to read all eight chemical indicators 744(1) to 744(8),chemical indicator apparatus 740 is rotatable about its centrallongitudinal axis 748 via a suitable actuator 750, and the reader ismovable linearly in a direction parallel to central longitudinal axis748 via a suitable actuator 752. It is noted that one, the other, orboth of actuators 750 and 752 can be actuated to allow reader 746 to bepositioned at multiple locations at each of one, some, or all ofchemical indicators 744(1) to 744(8).

Referring to FIG. 7E, this figure shows a chemical indicator apparatus760 that includes a frusto-conical holder 762 that supports twelvechemical indicators 764 (only five of which, i.e., indicators 764(1) to764(5), are visible) arranged in two bands, one with four indicators andthe other with eight indicators. A pair of fixed readers 766(1) and766(2) are provided, one for reading the upper band and the other forreading the lower band. In this example, a single actuator 768 isprovided to rotate chemical indicator apparatus 760 about its centrallongitudinal axis 770. As with other examples, if desired actuator 768can be controlled to provide one position for each reader 766(1) and766(2) relative to the corresponding pair of chemical indicators 764 ormultiple positions, for example, for error checking and minimizationpurposes.

Returning to FIG. 4, regardless of how chemical indicator apparatus 404is configured, it can be made to be a consumable product that needs tobe replaced from time to time, for example, to avoid undesirable effectsof deterioration of the one or more chemical indicators 412(1) to 412(N)from interfering with proper readings by any one or more of readers416(1) to 416(M). It is also noted that the set of chemical indicators412(1) to 412(N) provided on chemical indicator apparatus 404 can varyfrom instantiation to instantiation. A reason for doing this is to allowthe same reader(s) 416(1) to 416(M) to be used for differingapplications wherein one or more differing parameters and/or one or moreranges within one or more parameters are desired/needed to bedetermined. Examples of varying chemical indicator sets amonginstantiations of chemical indicator apparatus 404 are provided below inthe context of aquatic-life-supporting aquatic environments, such asaquariums and fish ponds, wherein differing chemical indicator sets areprovided for freshwater fish species, saltwater fish species, brackishwater species, saltwater coral species, and aquarium cycling/setup dueto the differing parameters that are desired and/or necessary to bedetermined.

Chemical indicator apparatus 404 can be designed and configured to befully or partially submerged (collectively referred to herein and in theappended claims as “submerged”) in the water (not shown) of the aquaticenvironment in which water parameter reading system 400 is deployed. Itis noted further that the term “submerged” covers not only the cases offull and partial submersion, for example, in an aquarium, aquarium sump,pond, pool, etc., but also the case of exposure of chemical indicatorapparatus 404 to the aquatic environment water within inline plumbing.An example of an inline plumbing instantiation of a water parameterreading system is described below.

Depending on the environment in which chemical indicator apparatus 404is operating, one or more of readers 416(1) to 416(M) and/or one or moreof chemical indicators 412(1) to 412(N) may experience fouling, forexample, from algae or other matter building up over time. To combatthis fouling, water parameter reading system 400 may include a cleaningsystem 424 that continuously, intermittently, or periodically cleanscritical components of any one or more of readers 416(1) to 416(M)and/or chemical indicator apparatus 404. Examples of cleaning systemsthat can be used for cleaning system 424 include ultrasound-basedcleaning systems, vibration-based cleaning systems, light-based (e.g.,UV light to kill organisms) cleaning systems, contact-type (e.g., brush,squeegee, etc.) cleaning systems, and filtered water-jet-based cleaningsystems, among others, and any combination thereof. Those skilled in theart will be able to implement, after reading this entire disclosure, anyone of these systems given the overall configuration of water parameterreading system and the configuration of interaction of its components ina particular instantiation.

Each of readers 416(1) to 416(M) can be any suitable type of reader forthe particular one(s) of chemical indicator(s) 412(1) to 412(N) that thereader at issue is designed and configured to read. For optically readchemical indicators, for example, chemical indicators in which chemicalchanges are observable by detecting: the amount of light absorbed,fluoresced upon excitation, and/or reflected and/or the color of lightabsorbed, fluoresced, and/or reflected, etc., and any combinationthereof, one or more of reader(s) 416(1) to 416(M) can be an opticalreader capable of detecting such amount(s) and/or color(s).Correspondingly, each reader can include one or more detectors (sensors)428(1) to 428(M) capable of detecting (sensing) the one or morecharacteristics of the relevant light. As used herein, the term “light”covers electromagnetic radiation in traditional light spectrum, whichincludes not only visible light, but also infrared (near and far) light,and ultraviolet light. Examples of such optical sensors include, but arenot limited to photo-detectors, line cameras, array cameras,charge-coupled device-based sensors, and CMOS-based sensors, among manyothers. Fundamentally, there are no limitations of the type andconfiguration of suitable light detectors/sensors as long as theyperform the requisite function(s).

Depending on the type(s) and location(s) of detector(s)/sensor(s) 428(1)to 428(M) in each reader 416(1) to 416(M), light from the relevantchemical indicator(s) 412(1) to 412(N) may need to be collected and/ortransmitted from each chemical indicator to the detector(s)/sensor(s).Such collection and/or transmission can be accomplished using anysuitable optics 432(1) to 432(M). In addition to conventional optics,for example, optical fibers, lenses, light pipes, etc., any of theunique light conductors disclosed herein can be used for optics 432(1)to 432(M). In embodiments wherein any one of readers 416(1) to 416(M)needs to emit light of certain spectral content to illuminate any one ormore of chemical indicators 412(1) to 412(N), each of the readers mayinclude one or more suitable light sources 436(1) to 436(M) and/orsuitable optics 440(1) to 440(M) for projecting and/or directing thelight from the light source(s) to the appropriate chemical indicator(s).Examples of light sources that can be used for any one or more of lightsources 436(1) to 436(M) include, but are not limited to, LEDs, lasers,incandescent bulbs or other sources, and any combination thereof. Asthose skilled in the art will appreciate, each light source 436(1) to436(M) can include one or more light filters (not shown) as needed tocreate the desired/necessary spectral content. In addition toconventional optics, for example, optical fibers, lenses, light pipes,etc., any of the unique illuminating optics disclosed herein can be usedfor optics 440(1) to 440(M). In some embodiments wherein both collectionand illumination optics 432(1) to 432(M) and 440(1) to 440(M) are usedin a reader, they can be combined as taught below, for example, in thecontext of combined illuminators/light collectors 1604 and 1800 of FIGS.16 and 18, respectively.

Water parameter reading system 400 may include a processing system 444that includes one or more processors for controlling the overalloperations of the system and implementing whichever of theabove-described and other functionalities that a designer chooses toembody in the system. For example, processing system 444 can controleach of readers 416(1) to 416(M), mechanism(s) 420 for moving thereader(s) and/or chemical indicator apparatus 404, one or more displays448, cleaning system 424, one or more communications devices 452, and/orone or more user interfaces 456, among other things, as may be present.Exemplary processors that can be used for each of the one or moreprocessors in processing system 444 include, but are not limited to, anapplication specific integrated circuit, a microprocessor, a system onchip, etc. Processing system 444 is in communications with one or morememories (collectively represented by memory 460), which can compriseany one or more types of memories, including, but not limited to, cachememory, random-access memory (RAM) (such as dynamic RAM and/or staticRAM), read-only memory, removable hardware storage media (such asmagnetic storage devices, optical storage device, flash-memory devices,etc.). Memory 460 can contain suitable machine-executable instructions464 executable by processing system 444 to perform any one or more ofthe functionalities imparted into water parameter reading system 400.

Each display 448 can be any type of display desired to present one ormore outputs to a user and, in some cases, such as with video displays,receive one or more inputs from a user. Examples of displays that can beimplemented include, but are not limited to, video displays (such asflat panel video displays (LCD, LED, etc.) and CRT video displays,touchscreen or not), indicator light displays, audio displays, gauges,and non-video flat panel displays (e.g., LCD and LED panels, touchscreenor not), among many others. Fundamentally, there is no limitation on thetype(s) of display(s) 448 that can be used in water parameter readingsystem 400. Similarly, each user interface 456 can be any suitable typeof user interface, such as hard and soft user interfaces implemented viasoftware and hardware. Fundamentally, there is no limitation on thetype(s) of user interface(s) 456 that can be used in water parameterreading system 400. Each communications device 2252 can be anycommunications device that is desired to be used to provide waterparameter reading system 400, and can be a wired device, such as wiredcommunications port (e.g., universal serial bus port, FIREWIRE® port,HDMI port, RCA jack port, etc.) or can be a wireless transmitter,receiver, or transceiver based on radio-frequency communications (e.g.,an IEEE 802.11 standard device and a cellular telecommunicationsdevice), on microwave communications, on ultrasonic communications, onoptical communications (e.g., an infrared device), or on magneticcommunications (e.g., an inductively coupled device), among others.Fundamentally, there is no limitation on the type(s) of communicationsdevice(s) 452 that can be used in water parameter reading system 400.Examples of various ones of the components of water parameter readingsystem 400 are provided below in connection with presentations ofseveral exemplary embodiments of aquatic environmentmonitoring/measuring systems.

Exemplary Aquarium Monitoring System

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary aquarium monitoring system 800 designedand configured to continually monitor a number of parameters of water804 within an aquatic environment having a component 808, such as anaquarium or aquarium sump, that contains at least a portion of the waterbeing monitored. In this example, system 800 includes a monitoring unit812 at least partially submerged in water 804, and monitors, accordingto user designated control parameters, the ecological conditions of theaquatic environment by continually reading a plurality of waterparameters of interest. Monitoring unit 812 removably receives achemical indicator apparatus, hereafter referred to as “chemicalindicator disc 816,” that, as described below, includes a plurality ofchemical indicators (not shown) that, as described above, each undergodetectable physical changes with changes in the level of certainconstituents of water 804. It is noted that while the term “disc” isappropriate for chemical indicator apparatus 816 due to its discoidalshape, for the purpose of the present disclosure and the appendedclaims, the term “wheel,” when referring to a chemical indicatorapparatus, shall mean any chemical indicator apparatus that is rotatedby a monitoring/measurement unit, water parameter reading system, orother measurement and/or monitor device disclosed herein about arotational axis and that resembles a wheel. For example, chemicalindicator disc 816 is a wheel, as are chemical indicator apparatuses7E30 of FIG. 7E, 1916 of FIG. 19, 2508 of FIG. 25, 4100 of FIGS. 41, and4412 of FIG. 44. Chemical indicator disc 816 is described below indetail.

Exemplary monitoring unit 812 communicates the ecological conditions,here wirelessly via an onboard antenna 820 (in this example anabove-water antenna, but a submersible antenna could be used), to awireless communications device, such as a WIFI™ router 824, via anysuitable communications protocol, here an IEEE 802.11 protocol. Router824 is connected to a communications network 828, for example, a globalcommunications network such as the Internet, via a suitable connection832. Connection 832 to communication network F28 enables access to acloud computing platform 836, which can, among other things, store data840 from monitoring unit 812, run analyses on such data, provide aweb-based GUI 844 for the display of raw, processed, and/or analyzedforms of the data, provide a web-based GUI 848 for allowing a user tocontrol the monitoring unit, provide raw, processed, and/or analyzedforms of the data to a remote device 852, such as a computing device,(e.g., smartphone, tablet computer, laptop computer, desktop computer,etc.), and control one or more applications.

FIG. 9 depicts monitoring unit 812 and chemical indicator disc 816 inmore detail. During use, monitoring unit 812 receives replaceablechemical indicator disc 816 on a shaft-type receiver 900 so that thedisc is able to rotate about its central rotational axis 904. Asdescribed below, during operation, monitoring unit 812 can, as desiredor not, rotate chemical indicator disc 816 about rotational axis 904 fora number of reasons, including for taking readings of the chemicalindicators (not shown), for causing water in the space between the discand the monitoring unit to exchange for water outside that space toexpose the chemical indicators to “fresh” water, and for self-cleaningpurposes. Chemical indicator disc 816 is positioned overtop one or morereader ports, in this example, optical reader ports 908(1) and 908(2)and an ultraviolet (UV) light port 912. As described in detail below,optical reader ports 908(1) and 908(2) allow optical readers (not shown)onboard monitoring unit 812 to optically read the chemical indicatorsonboard chemical indicator disc 816, and UV light port 912 is providedfor sterilizing any biological material that might attach to the disc.As mentioned, monitoring unit 812 has one or more antennas 820, each ofwhich is preferably, though not necessarily, mounted internally and/orexternally, and/or mounted at the top of the unit and to keep theantenna(s) out of water for best reception and transmission. In oneexample, monitoring unit 812 is designed so that the top portion of theunit above water line 920 is above water and the lower portion of theunit below water line 920 is submerged during use.

In one embodiment, monitoring unit 812 and corresponding chemicalindicator disc 816 are designed and manufactured to have a weight thatis close to the weight of the water displaced by the unit and disc whenthey are installed in the water wherein they will be used. In anembodiment that is engaged with a wall of an aquarium or other containervia magnetic coupling with a magnetic device on the exterior of theaquarium or other container (such as described below), it is beneficialto have the combined weight of monitoring unit 812 and disc 816 and thedisplaced water be close to one another so that the unit (with discattached) do not tend to slide up or down along the engaged wall. Inaddition, smaller holding magnets can be used. In addition, if thecombined weight of monitoring unit 812 and disc 816 is slightly lessthan the weight of the displaced water, then if the unit does disengagefrom the wall, then it will not sink so that it can be easily reached bya user. Monitoring unit 812 can include a 3-axis accelerometer (such asaccelerometer 2276 of monitoring unit 2202 of FIG. 22), and thisaccelerometer can be used to detect abnormal movement (tilting, verticalslipping, and/or rotation, etc.) of the unit that indicatesdisengagement with the wall or other undesirable movement. In oneexample, the combined weight of monitoring unit 812 and disc 816 isabout 220 g, whereas the weight of the water displaced by them in theirnormal operating location is about 240 g.

Chemical indicator disc 816 includes an optional filter 924 that coversflow passages in the disc, here four flow passages 928(1) to 928(4) thatallows water to flow from one side of the disc to the other. While fourflow passages 928(1) to 928(4) are shown, more or fewer passages can beprovided to suit a particular design. Each flow passage 928(1) to 928(4)can be enhanced with one or more features that assist the flow of watertherethrough when disc 816 is being rotated by monitoring unit 812. Forexample, when monitoring unit 812 is rotating disc 816 in acounterclockwise direction when looking toward the monitoring unit alongrotational axis 904, the flow assisting feature(s) of each flow passage928(1) to 928(4) can pull water into the space between the disc andmonitoring unit. In this example, filter 924 is used to filter the waterbeing pulled into that space. This can be beneficial to reducing theamount of light-scattering particulate and/or other matter in the waterpresent in that space during measurement readings, which in turn canincrease the accuracy of the readings. In one scenario, monitoring unit812 can be programmed to perform a flush cycle in which it spins disc816 for a predetermined amount of time and a predetermined speed (anddirection) sufficient to pull water into the space between the disc andthe monitoring unit just prior to taking one or more measurementreadings. Since the water being pulled in is being filtered by filter924, during the immediately subsequent reading(s) the water in thatspace is as clean as practicable. It is noted that flushing can also bebeneficial in embodiments not including any filters (such as filter 924)and that one or more filters are useful outside the context of flushing.

FIG. 10 illustrates exemplary chemical indicator disc 816 in more detailthan depicted in FIGS. 8 and 9. As seen in FIG. 10, disc 816 comprises agenerally discoidal holder 1000, which, in this example, holds tenchemical indicators, here in the form of indicator patches 1004(1) to1004(10) that are arranged in an annular manner about disc 816 andcontain various dyes. It is noted that although ten chemical indicators1004(1) to 1004(10) are shown, in other embodiments disc 816 or similardisc can have more or fewer indicators as needed and/or desired to suita particular application. In this example, each indicator patch 1004(1)to 1004(10) is gel-based and contains a dye that either changes in itslight absorbance or its fluorescence, or both, as a function of theamount of one or more particular constituents of the water to which thepatches are exposed, such as water 804 of FIG. 8. Also in this example,the dyes contained in indicator patches 1004(1) to 1004(10) are selectedfor testing saltwater and are as follows: patch 1004(1) contains amagnesium indicator dye; patch 1004(2) contains a calcium indicator dye;patch 1004(3) contains a phosphate indicator dye; patch 1004(4) containsa nitrate indicator dye; patch 1004(5) contains a nitrite indicator dye;patch 1004(6) contains a pH indicator dye (Type 1); patch 1004(7)contains a pH indicator dye (Type 2); patch 1004(8) contains an ammoniaindicator dye; patch 1004(9) contains a dissolved oxygen indicator dye;and patch 1004(10) contains a sensor age dye. Disc 816 also includes ablack reflectance patch 1008 and a white calibration reference patch1012 for calibrating the readers (not shown) onboard monitoring unit 812(see, e.g., FIG. 9). It is important to note that the sensing indicatorsof disc 816 have reversible reactions to the constituents of the waterwhereby if the concentration of a constituent goes back down to a baselevel, the sensor dye returns to its original state.

In the particular embodiment shown, each of patches 1004(1) to 1004(10),1008, and 1012 is located in a corresponding recess 1016(1) to 1016(12).However, in other embodiments, this need not be the case. For example,depending on the thickness of a particular dye patch it may not residein a recess, but rather be applied to a non-recessed surface of disc816. Indeed, in some embodiments, disc 816 may have a completely flatsurface in the patch region and all of patches 1004(1) to 1004(10),1008, and 1012 may be secured to that surface. In addition, it is notedthat while patches 1004(1) to 1004(10), 1008, and 1012 are shown asdiscrete bodies relative to one another, in other embodiments this neednot be so. For example, all of patches 1004(1) to 1004(10), 1008, and1012 can be provided as a unitary structure, such as on an annularsubstrate to which the various patches are provided. Then, duringmanufacture, such preformed annular structure can simply be adhered orotherwise secured to holder 1000. In addition, patches 1004(1) to1004(10), 1008, and 1012 need not necessarily be spaced from oneanother. On the contrary, for example, adjacent ones of patches 1004(1)to 1004(10), 1008, and 1012 can directly abut one another. It should benoted that while FIG. 8 shows patches with rounded ends, it is preferredbut not required to use more rectangular shapes such as shown in FIG. 19for more efficient use of the space and more optically readable surfacearea.

Still referring to FIG. 10, the illustrated example of chemicalindicator disc 816 includes an information storage device, here aradio-frequency identification (RFID) based integrated circuit (IC)storage device 1020 that can be used to store a variety of information,such as calibration and manufacturing data sets for various ones ofindicator patches 1004(1) to 1004(10), disc identification data, discusage data, and an authentification key to thwart counterfeiting of thedisc. As seen below, monitoring unit 812 (see, e.g., FIG. 9) may includea corresponding RFID device (not shown) for reading and/or writinginformation from or to RFID storage device 1020. While an RFID tag basedstorage device is shown, other forms of storage devices can be used tostore various information, such as some or all of the information notedabove. Other forms of storage devices include bar code devices, QR codedevices, and magnetic storage, among others. It is noted that in someembodiments, information and data indicated above as being storable ondisc 816 can be stored in another location, such as on a monitoring unitor one or more network storage devices, such as one or more webservers,among other locations.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 10, chemical indicator disc 816 is heldin engagement with monitoring unit 812 (see, e.g., FIG. 9) usingmagnetic coupling between, in this example, a pair of permanent magnets1024(1) and 1024(2) on the disc and a corresponding pair of magnets(KK28(1) and 1328(2) in FIG. 13) inside the monitoring unit. Asdescribed below in more detail, this magnetic coupling not only holdsdisc 816 in engagement with monitoring unit 812, the monitoring unitalso uses this magnetic coupling to align the disc and rotate it aboutrotational axis 904 during use. In some embodiments of aquariummonitoring system 800 (FIG. 8), inhibiting extraneous light fromreaching patches 1004(1) to 1004(10), 1008, and 1012 (FIG. 10) topromote the accuracy of the readings is very important. Consequently,disc 816 is provided with a light-blocking feature, here, an apron 1026,that works in conjunction with a cooperating light blocking feature onmonitoring unit 812, which as seen in FIG. 9 is a flange 932 shapedsimilarly to apron 1026 on the disc, as seen in FIG. 10.

Referring again to FIG. 10, as mentioned above chemical indicator disc816 includes a plurality of flow passages 928(1) to 928(4) havingchamfered surfaces 1028(1) to H28(4) that promote the flow of water intothe space between the disc and monitoring unit 812 (see, e.g., FIG. 9)during operation to enable the water to transport from one side of thedisc to the other side of the disc by way of pressure differentialscreated by the chamfered edges. Disc 816 also includes an engagementstructure, here, a frusto-conically shaped receptacle 1032 designed andconfigured to be conformally engaged with receiver 900 (FIG. 9) onmonitoring unit 816 (also FIG. 9). In some embodiments, receiver 900(FIG. 9) and receptacle 1032 (FIG. 10) must be designed with some carebecause it can be very important to have a tight fit to minimize wobbleof disc 816 relative to monitoring unit 812 (see, e.g., FIG. 9) but toalso allow for relatively friction-free rotation of the disc duringoperation. Receptacle 1032 may be provided with one or more grooves orother pres sure-relieve structure (e.g., aperture) that allows water toflow out of the receptacle as disc 816 is engaged onto receiver 900(FIG. 9). In addition, receiver 900 and the walls of receptacle 1032 maybe at least partially composed of, for example, by impregnation, arelatively low friction material, such as polytetrafluoroethylene, thatreduces the friction between the contacting parts to inhibit wear. Insome embodiments (see below) receiver 900 (FIG. 9) may be made at leastpartially of an electrically conductive material and the walls ofreceptacle 1032 (FIG. 10) may correspondingly have a conductive contact1036 for conducting electrical charge, for example, to one or moreelectrodes (one electrode 1100 shown for convenience) onboard disc 816,as shown in FIG. 11.

In FIG. 11, the illustrated embodiment of chemical indicator disc 816 isaugmented with electrode 1100 mounted on the “back” side 1104 of thedisc, i.e., the side of the disc opposite the side that confrontsmonitoring unit 812 (see, e.g., FIG. 9) during operation. Electrode 1100is provided to modify (e.g., extend) the dynamic range of one ofchemical indicator patches 1004(1) to 1004(10) (FIG. 10) located on theobverse side of disc 816 opposite the electrode. Referring now to FIG.11, and also to FIG. 12, when a voltage source 1200 (FIG. 12) withinmonitoring unit 812 generates a voltage, electrode 1100 (FIGS. 11 and12), in conjunction with a second electrode 1204 in contact with water804, creates a current flow within the water being tested. When apositive potential is applied, for example, to electrode 1100 relativeto electrode 1204, the chemical cations (not shown) are repelled awayfrom the one of chemical indicator patches 1004(1) to 1004(10) (FIG. 10)beneath electrode 1100. This reduction of the chemical ions near theaffected chemical patch 1004(1) to 1004(10) lowers the response of thedye in that patch. As those skilled in the art will readily understand,using proper calibration of voltage and/or currents, this lowering ofthe response can be used to effectively extend the range of the affectedpatch 1004(1) to 1004(10). It should also be noted that the reversepolarity can also be used to attract ions and therefore increase thesensitivity. Pulses of electric charge on 1100 can be used to modulatethe optical response of a sensor patch over a very short period of timeso that no long term voltage or current is required.

As noted above, a magnetic coupling is used to hold chemical indicatordisc 816 (see, e.g., FIG. 9) into engagement with monitoring unit 812and to allow the monitoring unit to rotate the disc during operation.FIG. 13 illustrates this magnetic coupling, as well as a number of otherfeatures. Referring to FIG. 13, monitoring unit 812 includes a wall 1300that is part of a waterproof enclosure 1304 that keeps the interior 1308of the monitoring unit and its contents dry. Receiver 900 is fixedlysecured to wall 1300 and in FIG. 13 is shown fully engaged by disc 816.A rotary motor 1312, such as a finely controllable electrical steppermotor, is fixedly mounted within interior 1308 of monitoring unit 812 sothat its rotational axis 1316 is coincident with rotational axis 904 ofthe disc. In this example, motor 1312 has a central rotating shaft 1320that rotates about rotational axis 1316 and has a support bar 1324fixedly secured at the end thereof. Magnets 1328(1) and 1328(2) arefixedly secured to support bar 1324 and are movable therewith when motor1312 rotates shaft 1320. It is noted that while a direct-drivearrangement is shown, those skilled in the art will understand that atransmission, such as a reducing transmission, can be used, especiallyif it is desired to control the rotation of disc more finely than motor1312 is directly capable of.

As can be readily appreciated, when opposing pairs of magnets 1328(1),1328(2), 1024(1), and 1024(2) are of opposing polarities, those pairsattract one another. Thus, chemical indicator disc 816 is magneticallypulled into fully seated engagement with receiver 900. In addition, whenmotor 1312 rotates support bar 1324, thereby moving the magnets, themagnetic attraction of magnets 1024(1) and 1024(2) to the moving magnets1328(1) and 1328(2), respectively, causes disc 816 to rotate in virtualunison with the rotating support bar. It is noted that while two pairsof magnets 1328(1), 1328(2), 1024(1), and 1024(2) are illustrated, moreor fewer magnets can be used. Regarding the number of magnets provided,it is noted that in some embodiments the number and strength of themagnets need to be carefully selected, as too powerful and/or too manymagnets can cause too much friction between disc 816 and monitoring unit812. If permanent magnets are used, the magnetic force used to hold disc816 onto receiver 900 should be low enough such that a user can freelyremove the disc when it's no longer providing a proper operation. If,for example, electromagnets or other switchable magnets are used, themagnetic coupling may be turned off for disc removal. The magnetic forceshould also be sufficient to ensure water flow and turbulence againstdisc 816 will not dislodge it from receiver 900.

The present inventor has determined that the shapes of magnets 1328(1),1328(2), 1024(1), and 1024(2) can have an impact on the performance ofthe magnetic coupling, especially in the imparting of motion to disc816. For example, if magnets 1328(1), 1328(2), 1024(1), and 1024(2) areflat discoidal magnets, i.e., have relative large diameters relative totheir thicknesses, or are wide magnets of another shape having expansivefaces and they are placed so that their expansive faces face oneanother, the magnetic interaction between the magnets is relativelysloppy, i.e., there is a relatively large amount of play in thealignment. On the other hand, if opposing ones of magnets 1328(1),1328(2), 1024(1), and 1024(2) are too narrow, when the narrow ends aremade to face one another, the magnets can too easily lose their magneticcoupling. FIG. 14 is a graph 1400 illustrating the amount of rotationalpull necessary to pull a magnetically coupled rotating body (such asdisc 816 of FIGS. 8 and 9) in either direction of rotation based on thesize of the magnets used (e.g., magnets 1328(1), 1328(2), 1024(1), and1024(2)) and offset angle between the magnets on the opposite sides ofthe magnetic coupling. The pull is illustrated for three sizes ofmagnets, 3/16″× 1/16″ (curve 1404), ¼″× 1/16″ (curve 1408), and ⅛″×⅛″(curve 1412). At zero offset, the magnets are in near perfect alignmentand there is no net pull in either direction (clockwise andcounterclockwise). Once rotation of the driving set of magnets isstarted, they will start to pull via the fields of the driven magnetsillustrated in FIG. 14. For the ⅛″×⅛″ magnets of curve 1412, the maximumforce is obtained at an offset of about 10°. However, in the example ofdisk 816 and monitoring unit 812 of FIGS. 8 and 9, the friction is lowenough that the lag will rarely ever exceed 1° to 2°. In a specificexample of magnets 1328(1), 1328(2), 1024(1), and 1024(2), with disc 816having a diameter of 38 mm, a mass of about 20 g, and a gap of about 2.3mm between opposing magnets, a Neodymium cylindrical magnet having abouta 3.1 mm diameter and a 3.1 mm length has been found to be satisfactorywhen the circular ends of the opposing magnets are oriented to face oneanother. Within a certain range, if the gap is large, the diameter canremain constant and the length increased to provide additional magneticstrength. Oppositely, if the gap is smaller, the diameter can remainconstant, but the length decreased to provide lesser magnetic strength.

FIG. 13 also illustrates a portion of one of the optical readersmentioned above, that detects one or more optical characteristics andchanges in the characteristic(s) in the dye(s) of one or more ofchemical indicator patches, only two of which, i.e., patches 1004(1) and1004(6), are depicted in FIG. 13. The portion of the optical readerillustrated is a combined illuminator/light collector (I/LC) 1332 thatis used to illuminate each one of chemical indicator patches 1004(1) to1004(10) (FIG. 10) that the reader is designed and configured to read,such as patch 1004(1) shown in FIG. 13, and to collect light thatreflects and/or emanates (e.g., fluoresces) from that patch as a resultof the illumination. Because of the nature of the dyes in the one(s) ofchemical indicator patches 1004(1) to 1004(10) (FIG. 10), the amount oflight collected by combined I/LC 1332 from each patch is indicative ofthe level of constituent(s) of water 804 that that patch is designed tomeasure. Several examples of combined I/LCs suitable for use as combinedI/LC 1332 are described below in detail. However, before proceeding tothose descriptions, it is noted that in this example, combined I/LC 1332extends through port 908(1) in wall 1300 and forms a liquid sealtherewith to keep water 804 out of interior 1308 of monitoring unit 816.It is noted that the other port in this example, i.e., port 908(2), isoccupied by a second combined I/LC (not shown) that is identical tocombined I/LC 1332.

FIG. 16 illustrates combined I/LC 1600 that can be used for combinedI/LC 1332 of monitoring unit 812 shown in FIG. 13 or, for example, inany other suitable embodiment of a monitoring unit made in accordancewith the present disclosure. As seen in FIG. 16, combined I/LC 1600comprises a unitary monolithic body 1604 formed from one or moretranslucent materials, such as acrylic plastic, polycarbonate plastic,glass, sapphire, etc. In one example, when made of a moldable material,monolithic body 1604 can be molded, with little to no subsequentmachining or other processing. Combined I/LC 1600 includes spot lensing1608 and a light pipe 1612. Spot lensing 1608 is designed and configuredto project individual spots of light, here, two spots 1616(1) and1616(2) of light 1620(1) and 1620(2), onto chemical indicator disc 816(i.e., the target), wherein each spot projected is based on lightemitted from a corresponding light source, here, light sources 1624(1)and 1624(2), respectively. In a particular embodiment described below inconnection with FIGS. 25 and 26, spot lensing similar to lensing 1608 isused to project four spots of light onto the corresponding chemicalindicator apparatus, two spots for reflectivity measurements and twospots for fluorescence or absorbance measurements.

In one implementation spot lensing 1608 is carefully designed andconfigured in conjunction with the spacing, S, between combined I/LC1600 and the surface 1626 of disc 816 to provide highly precisely sizedand located spots 1616(1) and 1616(2). As seen in FIG. 16, spot lensing1608 is designed and configured so that light 1620(1) and 1620(2)passing by a principal point at spot lensing converges at a focal point1628 that is located at a distance beyond the target (chemical indicatordisc 816) so that the light forms the two individual spots 1616(1) and1616(2) on the target. In one example, wherein spacing S is about 3.5mm, the focal distance F to focal point 1628 is about 7.8 mm. Inaddition, it is noted that spot lensing 1608 is further designed toprovide very little to no variance in measurements acquired over arelatively wide range of spacing S. In other words, the amount of lightcollected by combined I/LC 1600 remains largely unchanged despitespacing S varying due to wobble and/or other factors. This isillustrated, for example, in the graph 1700 of FIG. 17, which shows thatthere is no more than about 1% variance in measurements over a range ofalmost 2.0 mm. In graph 1700 of FIG. 17, curve 1704 represents thedetected intensity, as a percentage of the maximum intensity, of anillumination spot formed by a combined I/LC similar to combined I/LC1600 of FIG. 16 using a red LED input. Curve 1708 is a similar curve,but for fluorescent light detected from a spot illuminated using a lightof an appropriate excitation wavelength for the particular chemicalindicator used. Curve 1712 represents the ratio of (R/Rm)/(F/Fm) where Ris reflectivity reading and Rm is maximum Reflectivity reading, F isfluorescence reading and Fm is maximum fluorescence reading. As can beseen from graph 1700, curve 1712 reveals that no more than about 1%variation in intensity occurs over a range 1716 of almost 2.0 mm whenusing this ratiometric correction step. It should be noted that anynumber of different wavelengths of light could be used to create thisreflectance signal used for correction.

Referring again to FIG. 16, the relative wide range distance S havinglow intensity variation can be important to the quality of resultsprovided by monitoring unit 812 when there is variance in distance Sfrom reading to reading, for example, due to things like wobble of disc816 due to movement of water 804, such as from a wave generator, fishswimming by, etc. In addition, it is noted that the relatively widerange of allowable error for spacing S allows a designer to carefullychoose the size of illumination spots 1616(1) and 1616(2) to control theamount of photo-aging of the particular chemical indicator at issue.Photo-aging of chemical indicators is addressed below in more detail,but generally, the lower the brightness of the illumination, the slowerthe photo-aging. Thus, by making illumination spots 1616(1) and 1616(2)relatively large, the intensity of the brightness at any location withinthat spot is lower than if the same light 1620(1) and 1620(2) were usedto form a smaller spot, which would be of greater brightness intensity.That would be the case if the target (disc 816) were moved closer tofocal point 1628, thereby increasing spacing S. That said, over acertain optimal range, despite differences in spacing S, largely thesame amount of light is collected from a more-intense smaller spot as iscollected from a less-intense larger spot. When spacing S is selected tobe in this optimal range, substantial immunity to negative effects ofdisc wobble and other inaccuracies in spacing S and minimizingphoto-aging can be readily accounted for.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating considerations that can be used todesign a combined I/LC of the present disclosure. As seen in FIG. 15,which illustrates an I/LC 1500 and a target 1504 spaced from the I/LC bydistance (spacing) S to an upper portion 1508 of a light collector 1512that collects light from the target in the manner described aboverelative to I/LC 1604 of FIG. 16. FIG. 15 also illustrates spot lensing1516 of I/LC 1500, a light source 1520, a light detector 1524, and anoptional light filter 1528. It is noted that each of light source 1520,light detector 1524, and filter 1528 can be the same as or similar toany of the like items described herein. As seen in FIG. 15, the lightemitted by light source 1520 is represented by three rays 1532, 1536,and 1540, which represent, respectively, the inside half-brightness fluxline, the full brightness flux line, and the outside half-brightnessflux line. The light from light source 1520 that is directed onto target1504 by spot lensing 1516 forms a spot 1544 of light having points 1548and 1552 that are the outside and inside half-brightness points,respectively. An angle 1556 is the critical angle for the interface ofthe material of light collector 1512 and air (which here laterallysurrounds the light collector). In the present example wherein lightcollector 1512 is made of acrylic, critical angle 1556 is 42.5°. The ray1560 leading to critical angle 1556 indicates the angle that is theminimum for the light to be reflected onto detector 1524. Any ray thatis less than critical angle 1556 will pass through the side wall 1564 oflight collector 1512 and will not reach the detector.

As distance S is increased, the quantity of rays emanating from betweenoutside half-angle point 1548 and inside half-angle point 1552 of spot1544 that will exceed critical angle 1556 such that they will bedirected onto detector 1524 goes up. When the distance S increases, thedistance from target 1504 to the aperture formed by the internal TIRcenter column also increases and therefore results in a reduction ofintensity as a function of 1/S². So by balancing the rate in which therays become less intense due to distance with the rate at which the raysstart passing through the sides of light collector 1512 at less thancritical angle 1556, a peak detection point can be formed at a desiredheight with spots 1544 at useful distances from the centerline 1568 ofI/LC 1500. By adjusting the angle of side walls 1564 of light collector1512 relative to centerline 1568, distance S at which the peak lightcollection occurs can be tuned. The rate at which the light falls off asa functions of distance S change can also be tuned by way of changingwhether rays inside and outside half-brightness rays 1532 and 1540 aredivergent or convergent as they leave spot lensing 1516 of I/LC 1500.This effectively defines a band of useful operation.

Referring again to FIG. 16, spot lensing 1608 includes a light-entrancesurface 1632 that has a high curvature due to the interface of thematerial of body 1604 with air between light sources 1624(1) and 1624(2)and the need to impart a significant amount of refraction into light1620(1) and 1620(2) as it proceeds through the spot lensing. In thisexample, this need is relatively great because the output surface 1636of spot lensing 1608 interfaces with water, which will typically have anindex of refraction that is relatively close to the index of refractionof the material of body 1604 such that little refraction is achievableat surface 1636 without exceedingly drastic curvatures that interferewith other functionality of combined I/LC 1600. It is noted that spotlensing 1608 can be continuous around central light pipe 1612, or not.As an example of the latter, spot lensing 1608 can be notched so thatlensing is present only at each light source 1624(1) and 1624(2) and notpresent therebetween. It is also noted that spot lensing can be providedwith one or more contour features at and/or adjacent output surface 1636that inhibits internal reflection, both partial and total, back intolight pipe 1612. Indeed, in the example shown, the curvature at outputsurface 1636 is configured to direct light coming from light source1624(2) to pass overtop of light pipe 1612 into spot lensing 1608 on theother side of the light pipe so that it outputs through light-entrancesurface 1632 for the opposite light source 1624(1), thereby keeping thestray light from reaching the light pipe and, ultimately, sensor 1660.

In this embodiment, combined I/LC 1600 includes optional laterallydispersive lensing 1640 that acts to direct portions 1644(1) and 1644(2)of the light 1620(1) and 1620(2), respectively, emitted from lightsources 1624(1) and 1624(2) away from spots 1616(1) and 1616(2).Directing portions 1644(1) and 1644(2) away from spots 1616(1) and1616(2), and more generally from the region where light is to becollected by combined I/LC 1600, those portion do not interfere with thereadings taken by a reader system, such as reader system 400 of FIG. 4.Those skilled in the art will readily understand how to design laterallydispersive lensing 1640.

Each light source 1624(1) and 1624(2) can be any suitable source,including filtered and unfiltered monochromatic and multibandlight-emitting diodes (LEDs), filtered and unfiltered monochromatic andmultiband lasers, filtered and unfiltered incandescent sources, filteredand unfiltered optic fiber(s) in optical communication with a lightemitter, etc. Those skilled in the art will understand how to select theproper light source(s) and any optical filter(s) necessary to achievethe desired results. Some examples of specific light sources aredescribed below.

As for the light collection aspect, combined I/LC 1600 includes centrallight pipe 1612 that collects light 1648(1) and 1648(2) from the regionsof spots 1616(1) and 1616(2), respectively. As should be apparent fromthe foregoing discussion, light 1648(1) and 1648(2) can be reflectedlight from spots 1616(1) and 1616(2) or fluorescent light resulting fromthe stimulation of any fluorescent dye, for example, from any one ofchemical indicator patches 1004(1) to 1004(10) (FIG. 10) that includessuch dye, from spots 1616(1) and 1616(2), or a combination of both.Central light pipe 1612 include an input end 1652 proximate to chemicalindicator disc 816 (when present) and an output end 1656 that directslight 1648(1) and 1648(2) toward one or more suitable sensors 1660,which may or may not be located downstream of one or more optional lightfilters 1664, depending on the sensitivity(ies) of the sensor(s)provided. For example, for a fluorescing dye, it is typically desirableto measure (sense) only the fluorescent light, i.e., without anyreflected stimulating light. If the sensor 1660 at issue is a broadbandsensor, then it would be desirable to provide one or more filters 1664that filter out the original stimulating light. Alternatively, if thesensor 1660 at issue is sensitive only to the fluorescent light, then afilter is not needed. It is noted that light pipe 1612 can have anylength desired. In such cases, any losses can be accounted for. In thisconnection, in some embodiments light pipe 1612 can be segmentized, aslong as the segments are properly optically coupled. It should also benoted that filters such as evaporated coating dielectric layer filtersand other types can be coated onto output end 1656 and become anintegral part of the I/LC.

Light pipe 1612 and combined I/LC 1600 more generally include severalfeatures to ensure that the light 1648(1) and 1648(2) collected by thelight pipe and directed toward sensor(s) 1660 is substantially onlylight from the target, i.e., chemical indicator disc 816. These featuresinclude: the separation of light pipe 1612 from spot lensing 1608 alonga portion of the light pipe; the design (curvatures) of entrance andoutput surfaces 1632 and 1636, respectively, that inhibits internalreflection from spot lensing into light pipe within body 1604; theprovision of laterally dispersive lensing 1640; and the design oflateral surface 1668 of the spot lensing that also help inhibit internalreflections from reaching the light pipe. Sensor 1660 can be a surfacemounted detector on the bottom side of a printed circuit board (PCB)with a sensing area that collects light through a hole in the PCB. Lightsources 1624(1) and 1624(2) can also be surfaces mounted but on theopposite side of the PCB from sensor 1660. This arrangement permits theuse of the PCB material to act as a light block for making sure lightthat is internally scattered from light sources 1624(1) and 1624(2)can't make direct optical path to sensor 1660.

In the example shown, each light source 1624(1) and 1624(2) comprises alensed LED package and is located in close proximity to light-entrancesurface 1632 of spot lensing 1608. In one example, each light source1624(1) and 1624(2) output light having a beam angle β of about 10° toabout 30°. As used herein and in the appended claims, the term “beamangle” shall mean the angle between the two directions opposed to eachother over the beam axis for which the luminous intensity is half thatof the maximum luminous intensity of the output of the light source atissue. Depending on the configuration of the reader of which combinedI/LC 1600 is part, light sources 1624(1) and 1624(2) can have the sameoutput wavelength(s), or, alternatively, the respective outputwavelength(s) can differ from one another. This will become apparentwith an exemplary embodiment described below that has four light sourcesper reader, two light sources for measurement purposes (e.g., eitherfluorescence or absorbance) and two light sources for determiningwhether or not there are any contaminants on the target (disc 816) wheremeasurement readings are being taken that might interfere with theresulting measurements. In addition, it is noted that depending on thespectral output of each light source 1624(1) and 1624(2), one, theother, or both can be provided with one or more light filters 1672(1)and 1672(2), respectively, as needed to suit the needs of use.

Whereas FIG. 16 illustrates a an example in which combined I/LC 1600 ismade in a unitary monolithic manner, FIG. 18 illustrates an alternativecombined I/LC 1800 that is an assembly of multiple separatelymanufactured parts. Like combined I/LC 1600 of FIG. 16, combined I/LC1800 of FIG. 18 includes spot lensing 1804 and a central light pipe1808, each having the same functionality described above for likeportions of combined I/LC 1600 of FIG. 16. However, in FIG. 18, lightpipe 1808 is formed as a separate component relative to spot lensing1804. The two components, i.e., light pipe 1808 and spot lensing 1804are held together, for example, by press fit, with an intermediatesleeve 1812 that separates the light pipe and spot lensing. Intermediatesleeve 1812 is made of any suitable material, such as an opaquematerial, highly reflective (e.g., minor-like) material, or a materialhaving an index of refraction suitably different from the materials oflight pipe 1808 and spot lensing 1804 such that light internal to eachof the light pipe and spot lensing is inhibited from reaching the othercomponent. It is noted that in this example, laterally dispersivelensing (e.g., like laterally dispersive lensing 1640 of combined I/LC1600 of FIG. 16) is not present. However, in alternative embodiments itcan be provided, for example, in a unitary monolithic manner with spotlensing 1804.

FIG. 19 illustrates an alternative chemical indicator disc 1900 that canbe used, for example, with monitoring unit 812 (see, e.g., FIG. 9). Disc1900 is similar to disc 816 (FIG. 9) except that it includes a cleaningelement 1904 designed, located, and configured to clean optical readerports 908(1) and 908(2) (FIG. 9) of monitoring unit 812. As will beappreciated, optical reader ports 908(1) and 908(2) are susceptible tofouling, for example, from bubbles and/or buildup of matter from water804 (FIG. 8), such as small particles, and/or algae, etc. When disc 1900is mounted to monitoring unit 812 (FIG. 9), as the monitoring unit turnsthe disc during operations, cleaning element 1904 intermittently sweepsover optical port 908(1) and 908(2) and thereby cleans the correspondingsurfaces, for example, output surface 1636 of spot lensing 1608 andinput end 1652 of light pipe 1612 of combined I/LC00 of FIG. 16.

Referring again to FIG. 19, although cleaning element 1904 can beprovided at any suitable location, in this example it is provided inplace of one of the chemical indicator locations, of which there areeleven such locations 1908(1) to 1908(11) on this particular disc.Cleaning element 1904 resides in a recess 1912 formed within holder 1916of disc 1900. As better seen in FIG. 20, in the embodiment showncleaning element 1904 comprises a base 2000 and a plurality of bristles2004 fixedly secured to the base. Cleaning element 1904 is biased into aposition in which bristles 2004 are substantially perpendicular to thegeneral plane of chemical indicator disc 1900. However, the biasing hasa spring-like action that allows cleaning element 1904 to pivot ineither direction D1 or D2 when the outstanding tips 2008 of bristles2004 contact a structure, such as combined I/LC 1600 of FIG. 16 whenpositioned in one of optical reader ports 908(1) and 908(2), while disc1900 is being rotated.

In the embodiment shown, this biasing action is provided by magneticattraction, in this example a pair of magnets 2012 and 2016, one locatedin base 2000 of cleaning element 1904 and the other located on holder1916. It is noted that while a pair of magnets 2012 and 2016 isillustrated, the magnetic attraction can be implemented in another way,such as between a single magnet and a ferromagnetic material or betweenmore than one magnet in/on base 2000 and in/on holder 1916. As thoseskilled in the art will understand, the mutual attraction of magnets2012 and 2016 to one another along with the specially curved rockingsurface 2020 of base 2000, allows cleaning element 1904 to effectivelyrock on rocking surface 2020 in response to forces encountered atbristle tips 2008. The strengths of magnets 2012 and 2016 and thecurvature of rocking surface 2020 can be varied to vary the pivoting(rocking) response and cleaning effectiveness of cleaning element 1904.Magnets 2012 and 2016 can ideally be diamagnetic types which areattracted on the sides vs. the ends of their rod shape. This diamagneticattraction and magnetic pole alignment also provides for some of thereturn spring-like effect when deflected in either direction D1 or D2.In one example, base 2000 can be made of a plastic portion 2024 that ismolded around magnet 2016. Magnet 2012 can be inserted into a suitablerecess 2028 formed in the “back” side of holder 1916. Such insertion caninvolve, for example, an adhesive, a press fit or an interference fit,and/or the insertion can be followed by application of a closure 2032 tokeep magnet 2012 in its place when magnet 2016 (i.e., cleaning element1904) is not present.

While cleaning element 1904 is shown as a brush-based element, it can beof another type. For example, bristles 2004 can be replaced by anothertype of cleaning means, such as a sponge, squeegee, cloth,rubber-fingered, etc., cleaning mean. In addition, it is noted thatwhile the biasing means is provided by magnetic attraction, it can beprovided in another manner. For example, cleaning element 1904 can bemodified so that magnet 2012 is a central shaft that is rotatablemounted to holder 1916, and the biasing can be provided using a suitablespring means, such as one or more torsional springs, one or more spiralsprings, one or more coil springs, one or more resilient bumpers, amongothers, and any combination thereof. In yet another embodiment, base2000 can be fixed to holder 1916 and bristles 2004 can be madesufficiently flexible and resilient so that they flex a predeterminedamount when they swipe over any protruding optical element, such ascombined I/LC 1332 (FIG. 13), at either of optical reader ports 908(1)and 908(2) (FIG. 9).

Depending on the configuration of monitoring unit 812 (FIG. 8), it candrive the chemical indicator disc that is engaged with it, such as disc816, continuously at relatively fast speeds. As mentioned above, thiscan be desirable for causing the water between the disc and monitoringunit 812 to be exchanged relatively rapidly. This relatively fastrotation can be leveraged for cleaning one or more optical reader ports,such as either of ports 908(1) and 908(2) of FIG. 9. In the embodimentshown in FIG. 21, a chemical indicator disc 2100 can be fitted with acleaning element 2104 that is activated by spinning disc 2100 relativelyrapidly. While FIG. 21 illustrates cleaning element 2104 as having apair of brushes 2108(1) and 2108(2), it is noted that it can have moreor fewer brushes. In one alternative, the cleaning element can have asingle brush. In such case, the single brush can be deployed to acleaning position only by move disc 2100 in one direction, but not theother. It is also noted that each brush 2108(1) and 21(2) can bereplaced with a different type of cleaning device, such as a sponge,squeegee, etc. Cleaning element 2104 is pivotably mounted within arecess 2112 formed in disc 2100 and has a neutral position 2116 duringnormal monitoring operations when the disc is moved relatively slowlyand/or in relatively small increments. The pivotability of cleaningelement 2104 can be provided in any of a number of manners, such asusing a magnetic attachment (such as the magnetic attachment illustratedabove in FIGS. 19 and 20 in connection with cleaning element 1904), anaxle arrangement, and an end-pin/rotational bearing arrangement, amongothers. As can be seen, when cleaning element 2104 is in its neutralposition 2116, brushes 2108(1) and 2108(2) do not contact reader optic2120. However, during rapid rotation of disc 2100 to the left asillustrated at arrow 2124, the resistance of the water in the space 2128between disc 2100 and reader optic 2120 on brush 2108(1) causes brush2108(1) to deploy, by pivoting about axis 2132, into an outstandingcleaning position 2136 in which it contacts the optical port, therebycleaning the port. Cleaning element 2104 shown is a bi-directionallyoperative cleaning element, meaning that when disc 2100 is rotated inthe direction opposite direction 2124, then the cleaning element wouldpivot in the opposite direction, meaning that brush 2108(2) would beoutstanding instead of brush 2108(1) in its cleaning position 2136. Inthe example shown, cleaning element 2104 is biased into its neutralposition 2116 using any suitable biasing means, such as a spring element2140, which is configured to allow the cleaning element to pivot in bothdirections relative to its neutral position, one of which, i.e.,cleaning position 2136, is illustrated in FIG. 21. Alternativelydiamagnetic magnet pairs such as in FIG. 20 can also return cleaningelement 2104 back to neutral position.

FIG. 22 illustrates a water quality monitoring unit/chemical indicatordisc system 2200 that includes a monitoring unit 2202 and a chemicalindicator disc 2204 engaged with the monitoring unit. Monitoring unit2202 and disc 2204 can be embodied, respectively, as monitoring unit 812and chemical indicator disc 816 and, therefore, have any of thefunctionality of those components that is described above. For brevity,those functionalities will not be re-described relative to system 2200and only some are mentioned in this description of FIG. 22. However, thereader should understand that any unmentioned functionalities and/or anyun-described details are indeed present in system 2200 and reference canbe made to the foregoing description should further information beneeded or desired. Disc 2204 is rotatably engaged with monitoring unit2202 via an electrically conductive receiver 2206 so that electricalcharge can be conveyed to the disc for the reasons noted above.

Monitoring unit 2202 includes four optical readers 2208(1) to 2208(4)for reading the chemical indicators (not shown) present on chemicalindicator disc 2204. In this example: optical reader 2208(1) is designedand configured for illuminating and detecting absorbance at 590 nmwavelength; optical reader 2208(2) is designed and configured forilluminating and detecting absorbance at 720 nm wavelength; opticalreader 2208(3) is designed and configured for exciting and detectingfluorescence; and optical reader 2208(4) is also designed and configuredfor exciting and detecting fluorescence. Each of optical readers 2208(1)to 2208(4) includes an optical assembly 2212(1) to 2212(4) that includesone or more suitable light sources (not shown), one or more suitablelight sensors (not shown), and a combined I/LC 2214(1) to 2214(4).Optical reader 2208(1) has illumination and detection circuitry 2216(1)designed and configured to send driving signals to, and receive detectedsignals from, optical assembly 2212(1); optical reader 2208(2) hasillumination and detection circuitry 2216(2) designed and configured tosend driving signals to, and receive detected signals from, opticalassembly 2212(2); optical reader 2208(3) has excitation and detectioncircuitry 2216(3) designed and configured to send driving signals to,and receive detected signals from, optical assembly 2212(3); and opticalreader 2208(4) has excitation and detection circuitry 2216(4) designedand configured to send driving signals to, and receive detected signalsfrom, optical assembly 2212(4). In this embodiment, each ofillumination/excitation and detection circuitries 2216(1) to 2216(4) isanalog circuitry that is in operative communication with analog signalconditioning circuitry 2218, which in turn is controlled by a processingsystem 2220 that controls virtually all operations of system 2200,including data processing.

Processing system 2220 may include one or more microprocessors,microcontrollers, central processing units, etc., or any logicalcombination thereof. There are fundamentally no limitations on howprocessing system 2220 can be embodied, including centralized processingarchitectures and distributed processing arrangements. Processing system2220 includes one or more memories, collectively represented by memory2222, used to store (transitorily and/or non-transitorily, depending ontype) machine-executable instructions 2224, data 2226, and other digitalinformation that allows processing system to control the operation ofsystem 2200. Examples of memories that can be aboard monitoring unit2202 include, but are not limited to, hardware storage memory (removableor non-removable), random-access memory, and cache memory, among others.In addition, memory can be of any suitable type, including transistorbased, magnetic, optical, etc. Fundamentally, there is no limit on thenature and type of memory that can be used in processing system R20.

In addition to optical readers 2208(1) to 2208(4), monitoring unit 2202includes other sensors/detectors. These include: 1) a temperature sensor2228; 2) a conductivity sensor 2230; 3) a sound detector 2232; and 4) awater level detector 2234, each of which in this embodiment is inoperative communication with analog signal conditioning circuitry 2218.It is noted that in other embodiments, some or all of analog signalconditioning circuitry 2218 may not be needed if the outputs (and/orinputs) of the various sensors, detectors, and readers are digital.Temperature sensor 2228 is provided for measuring the temperature of thewater (such as water 804 in FIG. 8) in which monitoring unit 2104 isfully or partially submerged so that monitoring unit 2202 can estimatethe temperature of the chemical indicators on the chemical indicatorapparatus that is engaged with the monitoring unit. Temperaturecompensation can be a very important aspect for ensuring monitoring unit2202 is outputting meaningful information based on readings taken byoptical readers 2208(1) to 2208(4). For example, some chemicalindicators are relatively sensitive to temperature, whereas others arenot. In addition to monitoring unit 2202 being programmed (see, e.g.,software (machine-executable instructions 2224)) to adjust reading databased on the temperature of the chemical indicators, the monitoring unitcan also be programmed to make adjustments to compensate for the varyingperformance of light sources due to temperature changes and/or tocompensate for detector performance variation due to temperaturechanges. In this connection, though not shown, the circuit board(s) onwhich the light sources and/or detectors are mounted can include one ormore temperature sensors for measuring the temperature of the lightsources and detectors. Relative to chemical indicator temperature, it isnoted that a chemical indicator apparatus of the present disclosure,such as chemical indicator disc 816 of FIGS. 8 and 9, could be providedwith a color changing temperature indicator that changes color dependingon its temperature. Correspondingly, for example, one of optical readers2208(1) to 2208(4) could be configured to determine the color of thetemperature indicator. Monitoring unit 2202 could then use thedetermined color to determine the temperature of disc 816 and use thattemperature to make the corrections noted above. A benefit to using acolor changing temperature indicator on the chemical indicator apparatusis that the temperature is read from the disc itself. In addition, theaccuracy of water contacting temperature probes can be affected by theflow of the water.

Referring again to FIG. 22, conductivity sensor 2230 may consist of apair of spaced electrodes 2236 that contact the water in which disc 2204is submerged to allow the monitoring unit to measure the conductivity ofthat water. As those skilled in the art will understand, a conductivitymeasurement made using conductivity sensor 2230 can be used to infer thepresence of various constituents within the water. Sound detector 2232can be provided to detect the operating state (on, off, speed, etc.) ofany water pumps, wave generators, and/or other device(s) that produceone or more detectable sounds/vibrations when operating. Knowing theoperating state(s) of such one or more devices allows, for example,monitoring unit 2202 to use that information to control its ownoperation, such as the operation of any one or more of optical reader(s)2208(1) to 2208(4), to allow a user to remotely listen to the operationof her/his aquarium equipment, and/or to issue an alert that one or moreof the monitored devices is not functioning correctly, among otherthings. Water level detector 2234 can be provided for measuring thelevel of the water in container (not shown) in which monitoring unit2202 is deployed, such as an aquarium container or sump. As thoseskilled in the art will appreciate, water level data can be used forcontrolling monitoring unit 2202 and/or any remote devices, such as amake-up water valve, and/or for determining whether or not to issue anyalerts as to too high or too low of a water level.

Monitoring unit 2202 includes a voltage controller 2238 in electricalcommunication with analog signal conditioning circuitry 2218 forproviding a voltage to conductive receiver 2206, which in turn providesthe voltage to disc 2204 to provide one or more of the chemicalindicators (not shown) onboard the disc with an enhanced range.Monitoring unit 2202 also includes a stepper motor 2240 that drives disc2204 via magnetic coupling as described above in response to controlinput from processing system 2220. In this example, a magnet holder2242, which supports magnets 2244(1) and 2244(2), is driven by motor2240, and the magnetic interaction of magnets 2244(1) and 2244(2) withcorresponding respective oppositely polarized magnets 2246(1) and2246(2) on disc 2204 drives the corresponding rotation of the disc.

Monitoring unit 2202 includes first and second radios 2248 and 2250,respectively, controlled by processing system 2220. In the embodimentshown, first radio 2248 is provided for communicating with one or morelocal area network devices, for example, wireless TCP/IP router,radio-enabled smartphone, tablet computer, laptop computer, desktopcomputer, etc. First radio 2248 may be the primary communicationsdevice, for example, for receiving operating parameters from anoff-monitor software application and for communicating measurement data,monitor status information, and other information, such as audio fromsound detector 2232, to the external device(s), and/or to an off-monitorsoftware application for receiving such information. In one embodiment,first radio 2248 is designed and configured to operate under any one ormore of the IEEE 802.11 standards, but the radio can be designed andconfigured to work under any other suitable standard(s).

In this example, second radio 2250 is included to provide a small areanetwork or piconet to allow monitoring unit 2202 to communicate withproximate external devices that are part of the overallaquatic-environment environmental control scheme. Examples of suchexternal devices include, but are not limited to, one or more: lightingdevices 2252 for providing light to the aquatic environment; chemicaldosers 2254 for dispensing one or more chemicals to the aquaticenvironment; feeding devices 2256 for dispensing food to the aquaticenvironment; water pumps 2258 for circulating water within the aquaticenvironment; wave generators 2260 for generating waves within theaquatic environment; and power strips into which these and other devicesare plugged. In one example, second radio 2250 is designed andconfigured to utilize BLUETOOTH® standards. However, second radio 2250can be designed and configured to work under any other suitablestandard(s). It should be noted that while two radios are shown, that asingle radio which supports multiple modes and standards can also beused to provide both the proximate local communications and the networkconnectivity.

Monitoring unit 2202 includes power supply 2262 that providesconditioned power to other components and circuits onboard themonitoring unit. Power supply 2262 can include voltage regulationcircuitry that provides a high-precision electrical reference, which canbe very important for taking readings and/or driving the light sources.Other components of monitoring unit 2202 may include a suitable timingsource, such as a crystal oscillator, for ensuring that timingthroughout the system is precise, such as for controlling integrationtimes of light detectors. In one embodiment, wherein monitoring unit2202 is designed and configured to be located within a water container(represented by wall 2264 in FIG. 22), for example, aquarium sump,aquarium tank, filter tank, skimmer box, etc., that is part of theaquatic environment in which monitoring unit 2202 is deployed, powersupply 2262 receives power through the wall of the container via aninductively coupled transformer system 2266. In this example,inductively coupled transformer system 2266 includes a first transformercomponent 2268 in electrical communication with power supply 2262 and asecond transformer component 2270 in electrical communication with anexternal power source, such as a domestic power outlet (not shown) via asuitable power cord 2272. During use, one or more induction coils (notshown) within second transformer component 2270 induce electricalcurrent to flow within one or more induction coils with firsttransformer component 2268 via magnetic coupling between the inductioncoils in the two components. In turn, first transformer component 2268provides the resulting electrical energy to power supply 2262 to powermonitoring unit 2202. Advantages of this magnetic coupling include theability to avoid running a power cord into the water container andneeding to create a liquid seal at any opening in monitoring unit 2202needed to run such power cord into the unit. As those skilled in the artwill understand, wall 2264 of the water container can be made of anynon-magnetic material, such a plastic, glass, wood, non-magneticcomposite, etc., and any combination thereof. Alternatively, or inaddition, monitoring unit 2202 can include a power port, such as a lowvoltage DC power port 2274, that alternatively provides power to powersupply 2262.

Monitoring unit 2202 may also include an accelerometer 2276, such as a3-axis accelerometer. As discussed above relative to monitoring unit 812of FIGS. 8 and 9, accelerometer 2276 can be used in a scenario in whichmonitoring unit 2202 can become disengaged from any structure it isengaged with to determine when that disengagement has occurred. If anabnormal acceleration is detected using accelerometer 2276, processingsystem 2220 can be programmed to issue a suitable alert to notify a userof the (possible) disengagement.

In some cases, when a monitoring unit made in accordance with thepresent disclosure is sealed for watertightness, pressure changes duringshipping, such as shipping by air, can affect the precision alignmentsand/or positional tolerance of various critical components of the unit,such as components of the optical readers, such as light sources,optics, light detectors, etc. Large pressure differentials experiencedduring shipping can cause permanent deflections in various components,such as housing components that can affect reading accuracy of the unit.To combat this, a watertight monitoring unit, such as monitoring unit2202 of FIG. 22, can be provided with a pressure equalization systemthat allows the pressure inside the unit to adjust to the pressure onthe outside of the unit. In one example, a pressure equalization systemincludes a water-impermeable/air-permeable membrane 2278 that allows airto pass through for air-pressure equalization during shipping and can beleft in place without any end-user interaction to keep monitoring unit2202 watertight for use.

FIG. 23 illustrates a monitoring unit 2300 that is similar to monitoringunit 2202 of FIG. 22 in that it is designed to be at least partiallysubmerged in the water that it is designed to monitor. However, inmonitoring unit 2300 not only is power provided to the monitoring unitvia inductive coupling of first and second transformer components 2304and 2308, respectively, but data and other information is transmittedfrom and to monitoring unit via inductive coupling of first and secondinductive digital couplers 2312 and 2316, respectively. First inductivedigital coupler 2312 is operatively coupled to a suitable processingsystem 2320 that can perform largely the same functions as processingsystem 2220 of FIG. 22. Second inductive digital coupler 2316 canlikewise communicate with a processing system 2324 that, in turn, cancommunicate with one or more communications devices 2328 and 2332, eachof which can be, for example, a wired digital data port (such as auniversal serial bus port, a FIREWIRE® port, etc.) or a radio (such as aBLUETOOTH® radio, a WIFI™ radio, etc.), among other things.

In alternative embodiments, processing system 2324 can be eliminated,with data and information from and to second inductive coupler 2316being provided directly to the one or more communications devices 2328and 2332 or an intermediary device(s) (not shown) other than processingsystem 2324. In various alternative embodiments, first and secondinductive digital couplers 2312 and 2316 can be integrated intoinductive transformer components 2304 and 2308 by suitably superimposingdata signals on the power signals and using suitable encoders anddecoders for the embedded signals as known in the art. In addition, invarious other alternative embodiments, first and second inductivedigital couplers 2312 and 2316 can be replaced by other suitablewireless data communications devices that can communicate data acrosswall 2336, such as very-near-range radio devices and optical devices,such as infrared transmitters, receivers, and/or transceivers, amongother wireless data communications devices.

Depending on the intended deployment of monitoring unit 2300, locatingcommunications device(s), here devices 2328 and 2332, outside of thewater container (represented in FIG. 23 by wall 2336), can avoidtransmission interferences, allow monitoring unit 2300 to be fullysubmerged at any depth, and allow the data communications to be wiredwithout the need to run any wires into the container, among otheradvantages. It is noted that while processing system 2320 is shown asbeing inside the water container, it could alternatively be on theoutside, effectively taking the place of processing system 2324. Inthose embodiments, the portion of monitoring “unit” on the inside of thewater container would be largely only the optical reader 2340(1) to2340(4) and various sensors/detectors 2344(1) to 2344(4) and theircorresponding respective driving circuitries. Most or all processing andexternal communications would be performed outside the water container.

FIG. 24 illustrates an exemplary aquarium setup 2400 that includes anaquarium monitoring system 2404 and a doser 2408 for continuallymonitoring the quality of water 2412 and dispensing one or moreappropriate additives to the water to keep the water quality withincertain desired tolerances. Monitoring system 2404 can be, for example,a chemical-indicator-disc-based monitoring system that is the same as orsimilar to monitoring system 800 of FIG. 8. Doser 2408 can be anysuitable doser that can be remotely or locally controlled to provide thedispensing of one or more chemicals and/or other additives, here twoadditives 2416(1) and 2416(2), needed to keep the water 2412 within theaquatic environment, here an aquarium 2420, within certain desiredquality tolerances. In this example, doser 2408 includes a dispensingmechanism 2424(1) and 2424(2) for each of the two additives 2416(1) and2416(2) to controllably dispense the corresponding additive. In thisexample, each dispensing mechanism 2424(1) and 2424(2) is a peristalticpump that can be controlled to dispense highly precise amounts ofliquid. In other embodiments, the doser can dispense more or fewer thantwo additives and can include any suitable type of dispensingmechanism(s) in addition to, or in lieu of, the peristaltic pumpsillustrated.

In aquarium setup 2400, monitoring system 2404 can communicate automateddispensing instructions 2428 to doser 2408 via a piconet radio system2432 in which the monitoring system and doser are provided with piconetradios (not shown) wherein there is at least one-way communication fromthe monitoring system to the doser. Alternatively, wired or otherwireless communications may be used. To provide this functionality,monitoring system 2404 can be provided with a dosing calculator 2436 inwhich automated dispensing instructions 2428 are determined based onwater quality measurements made by the monitoring system, for example,using any of the measuring and monitoring techniques described above.Dosing calculator 2436 can, for example, be located onboard a monitoringunit 2440 of monitoring system 2404, located off-board the monitoringunit, such as in a cloud-computing platform 2444 and/or on a computingdevice 2448 (such as a smartphone, tablet computer, laptop computer,desktop computer, etc.), or any combination of distributedfunctionality.

When monitoring system 2404 is configured to communicate with a local,wide, or global area network (such as, e.g., the Internet), it can beprovided with a suitable communications system 2452 that allows it tocommunicate with the appropriate network or networks. In the presentexample, communications network 2452 includes a wireless connection 2456between monitoring unit 2440 and a wireless router 2460, which itself isoperatively connected to cloud-computing platform 2444. If some or allof dosing calculator 2436 is located remotely, such as oncloud-computing platform 2444 and/or a computing device 2448, automateddispensing instructions 2428 can be communicated to monitoring unit 2440via communications network 2452, and the monitoring unit can relay theinstructions to doser 2408. Alternatively, for example, if doser 2408 isoutfitted so that it can communicate with wireless router 2460, theautomated dosing instructions 2428 can be provided directly to the doserto avoid such relaying.

Alternatively, or in addition, to automated dosing, monitoring system2400 can be configured to provide assisted dosing, i.e., configured toprovide a person who maintains an aquarium (hereinafter “user” 2464)with assisted dosing instructions 2468. Dosing calculator 2436 can beconfigured to generate assisted dosing instructions 2468 along with, orin lieu of automated dosing instructions 2428. Monitoring system 2404can provide assisted dosing instructions 2468 to any suitable computingdevice 2448 available to user 2464 and/or to a display 2472 onmonitoring unit 2440 and/or a display on doser 2408. As those skilled inthe art will readily appreciate, assisted dosing instructions 2468 canbe in any suitable format, such as a tabular form that simply lists theadditive and the amount to be added, a demand form, such as “Add 10 mlof pH increaser to sump while pump is running”, or both, or any othertype of instructions for the user to add the proper amount.

With either of assisted dosing and automated dosing, monitoring system2404 can be configured to monitor water 2412 more frequently duringdosing, such as to ensure that dosing is proceeding correctly. Forexample, with automated dosing, monitoring unit 2440 can switch to an“enhanced monitoring” mode in which the monitoring unit monitorscontinually for a predetermined period at short intervals once it hassent automated dosing instructions 2428 to doser 2408. The period thatmonitoring unit 2440 performs enhanced monitoring can be determined as afunction of the type of additive(s) being added and/or the amount of theadditive(s) being added. The enhanced monitoring period can extend for apredetermined amount of time beyond dispensing as may be required forthe water quality parameters of water 2412 to rebalance, settle, etc.following dosing. In addition, the particular chemical indicator(s)and/or other sensing (e.g., temperature sensing, conductivity sensing,etc.) that is performed during enhanced monitoring can be tailored tothe particular additive(s) being added. For example, if only aparticular additive is being added for a particular dosing, only one ormore chemical indicators and/or other specific sensing needed to be doneduring the enhanced monitoring.

Enhanced monitoring during dosing can be performed completely in lieu ofnormal routine monitoring, i.e., routine monitoring is not performed, orthe enhanced monitoring can be performed in addition to normal routinemonitoring. If enhanced monitoring detects an abnormality, such as thewrong additive being dispensed, too much additive being dispensed, theadditive being dispensed too quickly, or the additive not causing anychange (perhaps indicating that the corresponding additive reservoir isempty or a hose is plugged, etc.), among others, monitoring system 2404can, for example, take any necessary corrective measure (includingdispensing an “antidote” additive, stopping dispensing, runningdiagnostics, etc.) and/or issue one or more suitable alerts to the user,among other things. In the case of assisted dosing, the user can signalmonitoring system 2404 that it has begun dispensing using one or moresuitable controls. For example, if assisted dosing instructions 2468 arebeing displayed on a smartphone (e.g., computing device 2448) and theinstruction are, for example, being displayed using a softwareapplication, or “app,” 2472 for interfacing with monitoring system 2404,then the app may display on a GUI 2476 on the smartphone a soft button2480 or other control labeled “Dispensing Started”, or the like. By user2464 activating button 2480, monitoring system 2404 is notified to startoperating in the enhanced monitoring mode. Depending on the type ofadditive being used and its effect(s) on water 2412, additional userinteraction can be provided to GUI 2476. For example, GUI 2476 can beprovided with a soft button 2480 or other control that user 2464 isinstructed to actuate each time she/he has dispensed a certain amount ofthe additive into water 2412.

In order for dosing calculator 2436 to properly determine dosinginstructions, for example, either automated dosing instructions 2428 orassisted dosing instructions 2468, or both, it may need to know one ormore pieces of information about aquarium setup 2400 and about theadditives being added. Examples of information that dosing calculator2436 may need to know about aquarium setup 2400 includes the volume ofwater 2412 in the setup, the type of the water (e.g., fresh, brackish,salt, etc.), and the one or more species of aquatic life (e.g., fish,coral, plants, etc.) that aquarium 2420 is supporting, the number ofeach species, the approximate mass of any coral, other environmentalinformation, and any combination thereof. Examples of information thatdosing calculator 2436 may need to know about each additive include, butare not limited to, the form (e.g., powder, liquid, gel, etc.), aconcentration of the additive, the chemistry of the additive, otheradditive data, and any combination thereof. In lieu of, or in supplementor complement to, providing information of this type, user 2464 mayinput into monitoring system 2404 brand and product identificationinformation in any one or more of a number of ways, such as by keying inthe information, making a selection from a list of choices, and scanninga product code (e.g., bar code, QR code etc.), among others. If amechanical doser, such as doser 2408, is used either manually orespecially automatically, dosing calculator 2436 may also need to knowinformation about the doser, such as its dosing instruction set andother dosing parameters. Depending on the implementation of aquariumsetup 2400, doser information can be provided to dosing calculator 2436in any of a number of ways, including keyed entry, product codescanning, make and model selection from lists, data transfer via anetwork, etc. Those skilled in the art will understand the informationthat dosing calculator 2436 needs to provide proper dosing instructions,such as automated dosing instructions 2428 and assisted dosinginstructions 2468.

Robustness Features

With the foregoing examples and operating principles in mind, followingare a number of features that can be provided as desired to a waterquality monitoring/measuring system/units, including any of the systemsand units described in this disclosure and that would be evident in viewof such description. These features can be broadly termed “robustnessfeatures” in that they enhance the robustness of the systems/monitors towhich they are added. These robustness features include features forreducing the effect of bad measurements due to: 1) contamination of achemical indicator; 2) aging of a chemical indicator; and 3) when amagnetically coupled chemical indicator apparatus is used, frictionbetween the chemical indicator apparatus and the receiver on which theindicator is mounted. The robustness features also include protectingagainst overdosing and protecting against dosing too quickly (e.g., toprotect certain species of life supported by a particular aquaticenvironment being monitored, to prevent precipitation or other chemicalreaction, etc.). Each of these robustness features is described in thissection. It is noted that each of these features need not necessarily beimplemented in conjunction with any particular system or component ofthe present disclosure, but rather can be implemented separately so asto include only the necessary supporting features and elements.

Multi-Reading Fault Detection/Handling

Detection and/or handling of faults caused, for example, by one or morebad regions on a chemical indicator (such as a region where an indicatordye is lacking, damaged, or occluded by contamination) can be handled byacquiring multiple readings from a single chemical indicator. An exampleof a multi-reading fault detection/handling scheme is described in thissection in connection with FIGS. 25 and 26.

FIG. 25 illustrates a chemical indicator 2500 from which multipleoptical readings are taken. Each location that is illuminated and fromwhich an optical reading is taken is indicated by a corresponding circle2504. It is noted that chemical indicator 2500 can be any one ofchemical indicators/chemical indicator patches described in examplesabove. In this connection, it is noted that while chemical indicator2500 is depicted in FIG. 25 as residing on a discoidal chemicalindicator apparatus 2508 such that the chemical indicator is arcuate, itis noted that the same or similar multi-reading scheme can beimplemented on a chemical indicator of virtually any suitably sized andshaped area. As more fully described below, each circle 2504approximates a spot of illumination light that is used to illuminate thecorresponding region of chemical indicator 2500. Each illumination canbe, for example, for fluorescence readings, absorbance readings,reflectance readings, and/or for reference purposes, for example, asdescribed below in connection with reference illumination. It is notedthat the number and locations of the spots of illumination in thisexample are merely illustrative and should not be considered limiting.Indeed, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that there aremany ways in which multi-reading fault detection can be implemented withdiffering patterns of illumination and/or differing locations ofillumination, among other variables that can be changed from theillustrative example of FIG. 25.

As used in the following example, illumination for measurements (e.g.,fluorescence readings and absorbance readings) are each referred to as“measurement illumination” as these illuminations are for takingmeasurements based on the chemical activity of the chemical dye(s)within chemical indicator 2500 in response to one or more constituent(s)of the water that the chemical indicator is designed for. On the otherhand, illumination for determining the presence of contamination and/orother optical interferents (e.g., particulates in water) and conditions(e.g., improper distance between a reader and a chemical indicator beingread) that affect indicator measurements (e.g., using reflectancereadings) is referred to as “reference illumination,” as thisillumination is used as a reference to detect the presence of, forexample, 1) any one or more contaminants on and/or in chemical indicator2500 that may interfere with the fluorescence and/or absorbance of thechemical indicator, 2) an matter in the water located between ameasurement reader and the chemical indicator that may affect themeasurements being taken by the reader, and 3) any deviation of distancebetween a reader and the chemical indicator that may affect themeasurements being taken by the reader, and any combination thereof.Examples of contaminants include, but are not limited to, surfacecontaminants such as algae and particulates, as well as physicaldefects/damage to chemical indicator 2500 itself, such as scratches andgouges. It has been found that many types of these and othercontaminants tend to interfere with the reflectivity of a chemicalindicator. Consequently, reflectivity readings and data taken fromacross a chemical indicator, such as chemical indicator 2500 can revealwhere contamination may be present. Knowing this, and the fact thatfluorescence and/or absorbance measurements taken at locations wherecontaminants are present, can allow a monitoring system/unit todetermine whether or not a particular measurement reading is a trustedreading (i.e., one taken where contamination is likely not present asdetermined from the reference illumination and reading) or not a trustedreading (i.e., one taken where contamination is likely present). Themonitoring system/unit can then be programmed to, for example, discardor treat with a lower weighting each non-trusted reading. In addition,taking multiple ones of each type of measurement reading on a singlechemical indicator provides the ability to use statistics, such asaveraging, to gain confidence in the measurements. Particular sets ofthese readings having particular usefulness are described below.

In addition to using averaging and/or trusted reading techniques on themeasurement illumination spots, similar techniques can be used for thereference illumination spots. For example, an algorithm can be used tosort readings from each chemical indicator and pick the most commonvalues. When the reading being taken from a reference illumination spotis based on reflectivity, contamination on the chemical indicator couldcause more or less reflection. For example, calcium carbonate mightstart to leave a white film on a chemical indicator, which would causethe reflected light to be more intense. Regardless of whether thecontamination causes a brighter or dimmer reflection, in one exampleonly the most closely matched N readings are used for averaging anddetermining the measurement, and the remaining readings are discarded asbeing unreliable.

In one example of a multi-reading scheme, four light sources (not shown)are used to illuminate four corresponding spots 2512(1) to 2512(4), withspots 2512(1) and 2512(2) consisting of one or more wavelengths that arenot involved with fluorescence excitation and absorbance relative tochemical indicator 2500. Illumination spots 2512(1) and 2512(2) are forreference illumination. Spots 2512(3) and 2512(4), on the other hand,are for measurement illumination. Both spots 2512(3) and 2512(4) can beof the same or differing wavelengths (or wavelength bands) depending onthe makeup of the relevant dye(s) within chemical indicator 2500. In oneexample, both spots 2512(3) and 2512(4) are for exciting the samefluorescence and contain the same excitation wavelength(s). Thiseffectively allows the number of measurement readings on chemicalindicator 2500 to be doubled. In another example, one of spots 2512(3)and 2512(4) is for an absorbance measurement and the other spot is for afluorescence measurement. In a further example, one of spots 2512(3) and2512(4) is for a first fluorescence measurement at one excitationwavelength and the other spot is for a second fluorescence measurementat a second excitation wavelength. In a still further example, one ofspots 2512(3) and 2512(4) is for an absorbance measurement at a firstabsorbance wavelength and the other spot is for an absorbancemeasurement at a second absorbance wavelength. Those skilled in the artwill readily appreciate the wide variety of scenarios that are possibledepending on the makeup of a particular chemical indicator and theoptical phenomenon(a) being measured. Of course, more or fewer spots ofillumination can be used as desired to suit a particular use. In anexample, spots 2512(1) to 2512(4) are typically illuminated at differingtimes so that the light from one does not interfere with readings foranother. FIG. 26 below illustrates one example of reader optics 2600that can be used to implement the four spot illumination scenarioillustrated in FIG. 25.

In one exemplary implementation and with continuing reference to FIG.25, once spots 2512(1) to 2512(4) have been illuminated andcorresponding readings have been acquired, the same pattern of spots areessentially replicated at corresponding respective spots 2516(1) to2516(4), such that reference illumination spots 2516(1) and 2516(2)substantially or entirely overlap, respectively, the regions of chemicalindicator 2500 previously illuminated by measurement illumination spots2512(3) and 2512(4). With this overlap, reference illumination spots2516(1) and 2516(2) are used to determine whether any contamination is,or is likely to be, present where measurements were previously takenusing measurement illumination spots 2512(3) and 2512(4), respectively.If, for example, the results of the readings from reference illuminationspots 2516(1) and 2516(2) indicate that one, the other, or both of thecorresponding regions on chemical indicator 2500 are contaminated, thenthe corresponding monitoring system/unit can take a corrective actionsuch as, for example, discard or assign a lesser weight to thereading(s) at the contaminated spot(s). Illumination spots 2516(3) and2516(4) are new measurement illumination spots for taking measurementreadings of chemical indicator 2500. As will be readily understood, asthe pattern of the four illumination spots is stepped across chemicalindicator 2500 (in this example seven times) to create substantialoverlap or virtually exact coincidence of each reference illuminationspot with a corresponding measurement illumination spot, eachmeasurement spot can be tested for contamination. In the embodimentshown in FIG. 25, if discoidal chemical indicator apparatus 2508 ismounted to monitoring unit having a stepper motor, such as monitoringunit 2202 of FIG. 22, the stepping of the four-spot pattern can beperformed by controlling the stepper motor to drive the chemicalindicator apparatus by one or more steps to achieve the desiredalignment of the measurement and reference illumination spots of thepattern. In other embodiments, for example embodiments wherein thechemical indicator apparatus is linearly movable with respect to anoptical system that creates the multi-spot pattern, the correspondingmonitoring unit can move the chemical indicator in a linear stepwisefashion to create the desired alignment of the measurement and referenceillumination spots of the pattern. In still other embodiments in whichthe chemical indicator apparatus is fixed and the optical system(s) thatgenerate(s) the illumination pattern is/are movable, then such opticalsystem(s) can be moved in a stepwise fashion accordingly.

It is noted that in some embodiments it is desirable to keep theillumination spots in the pattern of spots at issue, such as measurementand reference illumination spots 2512(1) to 2512(4) in the four-spotpattern illustrated, from overlapping one another. This not only allowsthe measurement locations on a given chemical indicator to be discreteand independent, but it also assists in reducing photo-aging of thechemical indicator, especially if it is one that is highly susceptibleto photo aging. As those skilled in the art will understand, manyfluorescent and absorptive dyes that can be used in a chemical indicatorof the present disclosure undergo photo-aging, i.e., they become lessresponsive with increasing amounts of light exposure. Keeping theindividual spots in a given pattern, such as the four-spot pattern ofFIG. 25, from overlapping, may reduce the overall exposure of eachregion of the indicator that is illuminated by the correspondingillumination spots to only the light that is necessary for measurementand contamination readings of that region.

As can be readily appreciated, a monitoring system/unit can utilize themulti-reading, iterative stepping process illustrated with respect toFIG. 25, or other similar process, to ensure that the measurement andcontamination readings are being taken from the correct chemicalindicator. As seen in FIG. 25, chemical indicator 2500 is locatedadjacent a second chemical indicator 2520 but is separated therefrom bya space 2524, which can be, for example, a bare part of the holder 2528of chemical indicator apparatus 2508. Since space 2524 will typicallyhave (much) different optical responses than chemical indicators 2500and 2520 to the measurement and reference illumination light, here spots2532(1) to 2532(4), than both of the chemical indicators, themeasurement and contamination readings taken from space 2524 willtypically be discernible from measurement and contamination readingsmade on the chemical indicators. Analysis of the reading data by amonitoring system/unit can reveal where those typically vastly differentreadings lie in the data, and these readings can be used to separatereadings taken from adjacent chemical indicators.

FIG. 26 illustrates an exemplary reader optics system 2600 that can beused to generate the four-spot illumination pattern illustrated in FIG.25 and also to obtain readings based on those spots. Referring to FIG.26, optics system 2600 includes a combined I/LC 2604 that can be thesame as or similar to combined I/LC 1600 of FIG. 16 or combined I/LC1800 of FIG. 18 and therefore can include spot lensing 2608 and acentral light collector 2612. Optics system 2600 also includes fourlight sources, here four lensed LEDs 2616(1) to 2616(4), that providelight to spot lensing 2608, which in turn uses the light to form fourcorresponding respective illumination spots 2620(1) to 2620(4) on atarget 2624, which can be, for example, a chemical indicator, a holder,or other part of a chemical indicator apparatus. Relating illuminationspots 2620(1) to 2620(4) to FIG. 25, these spots can correspond,respectively, to illumination spots 2512(1) to 2512(4) and toillumination spots 2516(1) to 256(4), among other sets of illuminationspots not particularly labeled in FIG. 25.

Referring back to FIG. 26, and continuing with the four-spot pattern ofFIG. 25, LEDs 2616(1) and 2616(2) can be selected to provide referenceillumination, i.e., provide light at one or more wavelengths that is notinvolved with taking either fluorescence measurements, absorbancemeasurements, or both. In one embodiment, each of LEDs 2616(1) and2616(2) emit light at about 720 nm wavelength. Correspondingly, LEDs2616(3) and 2616(4) can be selected to provide measurement illumination,i.e., illumination that is either fluorescence exciting or absorbed, orboth, depending on the particular optical characteristic(s)/response ofone or more chemical indicators being measured. As can be readily seenin FIG. 26, illumination spots 2620(1) to 2620(4) substantially do notoverlap one another for at least the reasons noted above. In oneexample, LEDs 2616(1) to 2616(4) are controlled by a suitable controller2628 that causes them to illuminate in a manner such that only a singleone of the LEDs is turned on at a time. This minimizes the amount ofstray light that interferes with any given reading. Optics system 2600further includes a light detector 2632 that detects the light collectedby light collector 2612. In this example, a light filter 2636 isprovided to filter unwanted wavelengths from the collected light. Thoseskilled in the art will readily understand that optics system 2600 isbut one example of an optics system that can be used to perform amulti-reading, multi-stepping process, such as the process describedabove with respect to FIG. 25.

Fluorescence Reading Contamination Compensation

In one exemplary aspect, with fluorescence, it is believed that mostnaturally occurring contamination/interference on the surface of achemical indicator will reduce fluorescence, not increase it. Usingcorresponding reference illumination and measurement illumination spots,such as contamination and measurement spots 2516(1) and 2512(1) of FIG.25, fluorescence emission measurements can be adjusted using thereadings from both illumination spots at any reading location. Forexample, this adjustment can be made using a ratio of a reading of thereference illumination spot to a known calibration set point. Toillustrate, if the reading from the reference illumination spot issupposed to always be 10,000 analog-to-digital (A/D) converter countsbut a current reading is 9,800, then the ratio of the reading to thecalibration set point is 9,800/10,000, or 0.98. The correspondingreading of the fluorescence emission from the same region of thechemical indicator at issue can then be divided by 0.98 to calculate acorrected reading. This method can also/alternatively be used tocompensate for errors due to spacing variations between the reader and achemical indicator, turbidity, and other factors. In the exampleutilizing four LEDs 2616(1) to 2616(4) (FIG. 26), since the samedetector 2632 is used for all four light sources, this arrangementinherently compensates for the temperature of the detector.

Ambient Light Compensation

Light from sources other than reader can interfere with the readingprocess. For example, ambient light from outside a monitoring system,such as light from aquarium lighting, room lighting, the sun, etc., canreach the detector, such as detector 2632 of FIG. 26. To compensate forambient light, the monitoring system/unit can be programmed to take anambient light reading just before a reading light source is turned onand a reading integration cycle is started. An ambient light reading canbe just an integration of light on the detector for a period of timewithout any of the reader light sources turned on. Once the ambientlight is known, it can be converted into A/D counts per μs, which is acorrection factor that can be used to subtract the ambient light valuefrom any given detector integration measurement. For example, if anambient reading is 500 A/D counts for a 10,000 μs integration time, thecorrection factor is 500/10,000 μs=0.05 counts/μs. Then, if a 2,000 μslong reading is taken with any of LEDs 2616(1) to 2616(4) and thereading is, say, 8,050 A/D counts, then the reading can be corrected bysubtracting from that measurement reading 0.05 counts/μs×2000 μs=100counts, such that the final reading adjusted for ambient light is 8,050counts−100 counts=7,950 counts. This adjusted reading can then be usedin any desired manner to produce measurement information.

Chemical Indicator Spacing Compensation

As described above, a combined I/LC of the present disclosure can bedesigned and configured to enable the corresponding light detector(s) todetect nearly the same amount of light from a target over a relativelywide range of variation in the position of the target relative to thelight source(s) and detector. However, in some cases, such as to furtherenhance the accuracy of readings of such as combined I/LC or whereinsuch a forgiving arrangement of light source(s) and detector(s) is notavailable, it is useful to collect target position information and usethis information to adjust detector readings accordingly. In oneexample, in monitoring unit, such as monitoring unit 2202 of FIG. 22that includes a pair of electrodes (see, e.g., electrodes 2236 of FIG.22) for measuring the conductivity of the water, those electrodes can beused to determine the spacing of the chemical indicator apparatus (see,e.g., chemical indicator disc 2204 of FIG. 22) is from the electrodesplane of the electrodes. In other embodiments, spacing information maybe determined by other procedures. Using this spacing information andother information known about the chemical indicator apparatus and themonitoring unit, the distance between reader optics (see, e.g., opticalassemblies 2212(1) to 2212(4) can be determined. When the electrodes areclose to a corresponding reader optical assembly (such as shown in FIG.9 with electrodes 936 proximate to reader optical port 908(2)), aconductivity measurement can be taken at each chemical indicator fromwhich a reading will be taken using that reader optical assembly fordetermining the distance between that chemical indicator and the readeroptical assembly. With the distance to the target (here, the chemicalindicator) being known, the monitoring unit can use that distance tocorrect the reading of the corresponding light sensor to account for anydifference in brightness of the measurement light reaching the targetdue the actual distance being different from the design difference.Again, such differences can be due, for example, to tolerances in thefit of the chemical indicator apparatus with a monitoring unit, wobbleof the chemical indicator apparatus due to movement of the water inwhich the apparatus is submerged, etc. Differences between the designdistance to the target and the actual distance to the target can causedifferences in the amount of light collected by a light detector of ameasurement reader. Consequently, deviations in distance can beaccounted for using procedures similar to the procedures describe abovein the section titled “Fluorescence Reading Contamination Compensation.”

The reason that conductivity measurement electrodes, such as electrodes2236 of FIG. 22, can be used in determining the distance between readeroptics and a target for the optics (such as a chemical indicator) isthat when the electrodes are located so that they measure theconductivity of the water between a chemical indicator apparatus and amonitoring unit (or other structure to which the chemical indicatorapparatus is engaged (such as an aquarium wall 4628 as in FIG. 46), theconductivity measured relates to the amount of water in that space.Since that volume changes with the distance between the chemicalindicator apparatus and the electrodes, the conductivity likewisechanges with the distance between the chemical indicator and theelectrodes. FIG. 27 illustrates a graph 2700 of conductivity versus timefor conductivity readings taken by a monitoring unit of the presentdisclosure, such as monitoring unit 812 (see, e.g., FIG. 9), as themonitoring unit moved chemical indicator disc 1900 of FIG. 19 pastelectrodes 936. In this example, disc 1900 contains twelve discreterecesses, eleven containing chemical indicators and one (correspondingto region labeled “10” in graph 2700 of FIG. 27) being a cavity for acleaning element, such as cleaning element 1904 of FIG. 19. In graph2700, conductivity profile 2704 provides an indication of error in thedistance of disc 1900 (FIG. 19) to the surface of monitor unit 812. Inthe example of graph 2700, the total variation is about 5.1%. As can bereadily appreciated, a conductivity measurement could be taken inconjunction with each fluorescence, absorbance, and/or reflectivitymeasurement by an optical reader (not shown) in communication withoptical reader port 908(2) of FIG. 9. A baseline can be determined, forexample, by having the monitoring system/unit measure the averageconductivity for all chemical indicator positions. The conductivity foreach chemical indicator position can then be expressed as a percentagerelative to the average of all positions. An advantage of usingconductivity measurements for determining target distance relative tooptical approaches is that conductivity is less affected by opticalcontaminants in the water.

Chemical Indicator Age Compensation

As mentioned in the previous section, aging of a chemical indicator canbe a design issue that needs to be considered, for example, forreliability of measurements taken over time as the chemical indicatorages from continual illumination for measurements and/or contaminationdetermination and, in some cases, from ambient light, and fromtime-aging of indicator dyes themselves. As a chemical indicator ages,the intensity of its response to excitation (fluorescence) or itsabsorbency, or both, diminishes, and the corresponding diminishedreadings need to be distinguished from lower readings that are due tochanges in the water the chemical indicator is being used to measure.For example, if a monitoring system/unit interprets a low reading asindicating that the level of a particular constituent of the water isbelow a predetermined threshold, then the monitoring system/unit mightrecommend that a certain additive be added to the water to bring thelevel of that constituent back up into tolerance. However, if that lowreading was in fact due to aging of the chemical indicator rather thanthe level of the constituent being low, then the instruction to dose thewater with an additive could easily result in the addition of theadditive causing the constituent level to be too high. Consequently, itcan be seen that tracking and factoring chemical indicator aging intoany measurement data and/or dosing instructions generated by amonitoring system/unit can be an important aspect of ensuring dosingaccuracy and water quality.

To at least partially account for photo-aging, a measurement/monitoringsystem/unit of the present disclosure can be configured to track theamount of light to which each region of a chemical indicator is exposedover the life of the chemical indicator. For example, FIG. 28illustrates a water quality monitoring system 2800 that includes amonitoring unit 2804, a chemical indicator disc 2808 engaged with themonitoring unit, and a shared, for example, cloud-computing-based,software application 2812 that is in at least intermittent communicationwith the monitoring unit. Chemical indicator disc 2808 includes aplurality of chemical indicators 2816 and a read/writable RFID device2820. Correspondingly, monitoring unit 2804 includes an RFIDreader/writer 2824. When disc 2808 is manufactured, it is provided witha unique ID 2828 and a data structure 2832 that holds various data,including light exposure data 2836 for the various chemical indicators2816. In one example, exposure data 2836 is expressed in watt-seconds,which can be readily determined by knowing the output of the relevantlight source(s) (not shown) and the cumulative amount of time that eachlight source is on when exposing a particular indicator, and aparticular region on that indicator.

When chemical indicator disc 2808 is first used and it is engaged withmonitoring unit 2804, monitoring unit 2804 causes RFID reader/writer2824 to read unique ID 2828, which the monitoring unit can store and/orsend to software application 2812 for product registration and tracking.As monitoring unit 2804 continually takes measurement and/orcontamination detection readings from chemical indicator disc 2808during use, at certain times, for example, regular intervals,continually, at certain clock times, it can cause RFID reader/writer2824 to write pertinent exposure data 2836 or updating data, etc., toRFID device 2820 on the disc. Monitoring unit 2804 can alternatively oradditionally store such data 2836 internally in a suitable memory 2840and/or upload the data to a data store 2844 of shared softwareapplication 2812 for tracking/redundant tracking. Writing exposure data2836 to RFID device 2820 on chemical indicator disc 2808 can be useful,for example, if the disc is later used with another monitoring unit thatis not in communication with shared software application 2812, amongother reasons. Those skilled in the art will readily understand that thephysical components used in the example are merely illustrative and thatother physical components that provide the same or similar functionalitycan readily be substituted with no undue experimentation.

With continual tracking of exposure of chemical indicator disc 2808 tolight from monitoring unit 2804, which due to its intensity, cantypically be considered to be at least the majority of light to whichthe disc is exposed over time, exposure data 2836 can be compared toknown benchmark photo-aging data 2848 determined, for example, in alaboratory for like chemical indicators, and any adjustments to thereading data acquired from the aged chemical indicators 2816 can be madeas needed. Such adjustments can be made internally within monitoringunit 2804, by shared software application 2812, or both. A benefit tohaving adjustments made by shared software application 2812 is thatbenchmark photo-aging data 2848 can be updated and/or newly added easilyat a central location without the need to provide the revised data toeach of the monitoring units, such as monitoring unit 2804 and othermonitoring units 2852(1) to 2852(N), that utilize the shared softwareapplication.

Another way of compensating for aging of a chemical indicator is to useredundant light sources having the same wavelength profiles but thatprovide differing brightness levels. In this manner, the differingregions of a chemical indicator exposed to the light of differingbrightness will photo-age at differing rates. For example, FIG. 29illustrates a chemical indicator 2900 that is divided into first andsecond aging regions 2904(1) and 2904(2). In first aging region 2904(1),chemical indicator 2900 is exposed to illumination of brightness x,which is applied at each of illumination spots 2908(1) to 2908(5).However, in second aging region 2904(2), chemical indicator 2900 isexposed to reduced-brightness illumination x/y (wherein y>1), which isapplied at each of illumination spots 2912(1) to 2912(5). While thevalue of y can be any in the range noted above, simple examples includey=2 and y=3, such that brightness in second aging region 2904(2) wouldbe one-half and one-third, respectively, of the brightness of theillumination in first aging region 2904(1). These examples are merelyillustrative and not limiting.

FIG. 30 is an exemplary graph 3000 of optical reading intensity (e.g.,digitizer counts) versus parameter value for a particular chemicalindicator. In the example shown, the parameter is the pH level of thewater. In graph 3000, “New x” curve 3004 indicates the reading intensityover a range of the parameter when the chemical indicator is new andexposed to measurement illumination of brightness x. As can be seen, theregion 3004(1) of curve 3004 is the most useful part of the curve, sincechanges in the parameter in this region result in the greatest changesin the reading intensity. Thus, in this example, the chemical indicatorwould be most useful for monitoring pH in the range of about pH 4.5 topH 7.5. However, “Aged x” curve 3008 indicates the reading intensityover the range of the parameter when the chemical indicator is aged acertain amount and exposed to measurement illumination of brightness x.As can be seen by comparing curves 3008 and 3004, as chemical indicatorages, the intensity of the readings at brightness x is reduced.

Similarly, “New x/3” curve 3012 and “Aged x/3” curve 3016 indicate,respectively, the reading intensity over the range of parameter when thechemical indicated is new and aged a certain amount and exposed tomeasurement illumination of brightness x/3, i.e., illumination that isone-third the brightness of x. A drawback of using light of reducedbrightness is that there can be quite a bit more noise than if a higherbrightness is used. This noise is seen in curves 3012 and 3016 in theform of the undulations of the curves. However, it can be seen that thereading intensities of both the new and aged readings at reducedbrightness x/3 are substantially the same as the intensity of the newreadings at brightness x. This information, and knowing benchmark agingprofile data for brightness x (such as “Aged x” curve 3008) can be usedto make adjustments to the measurement readings over time as thechemical indicator ages. Benefits of using this procedure is thathistorical light exposure data is not needed and it accounts for lightexposure, such as ambient light exposure during use and/or duringperiods of nonuse, storage, etc. As noted above, these adjustments canbe desirable to increase the accuracy of the measurements provided to auser and/or to increase the likelihood that the water being monitored isreceiving the proper dosing and is remaining within its target qualitytolerances.

Friction Testing

When a chemical indicator apparatus is driven to multiple readingpositions using a coupling having significant play, such as a magneticcoupling, friction between the chemical indicator apparatus and thesupport structure(s) with which it is engaged can be so great that themonitoring system/unit may “believe” it is reading one chemicalindicator when it is actually reading another. As an illustration,envision that chemical indicator disc 2500 of FIG. 25 is engaged withmonitoring unit 812 of FIG. 8 and is driven by the magnetic couplingillustrated in FIG. 9. As can be seen in FIG. 25, chemical indicators2500 and 2520 are relatively close together, and if enough friction ispresent, monitoring unit 812 (FIG. 8) could be “thinking” it is taking areading on chemical indicator 2500, when friction has interfered withthe rotation of disc 2508 to the extent that the reading at issue isactually from chemical indicator 2520, assuming a clockwise rotation ofthe disc as seen in FIG. 25.

One way that monitoring unit 812 (FIG. 8) can determine how muchfriction is present between disc 2508 and the monitoring unit is to takereadings in both a clockwise direction and a counterclockwise direction,correlate the readings to one another, and analyze the correlation data.This is illustrated with FIGS. 31 to 34. Referring to these figures asnoted, and also to FIG. 25 where indicated, FIG. 31 is a graph 3100 ofreading intensities versus stepper motor position for readings takenwhile driving chemical indicator disc 2508 (FIG. 25) in a clockwisedirection relative to FIG. 25. While readings are taken at discretestepper motor positions, the curve 3104 in graph 3100 is a fitted curvefitted to the data points. Region 3108 of curve 3104 corresponds toreadings taken from chemical indicator 2520 (FIG. 25) and region 3112 ofthe curve corresponds to readings taken from chemical indicator 2500.Region 3116 of curve 3104 corresponds to readings taken at space 2524(FIG. 25) between chemical indicators 2520 and 2500. In this example,holder 2528 (FIG. 25) is made of black plastic, which is exposed atspace 2524, so the intensities of the readings are low because of thehigh absorbance of the black plastic to the illuminating light.

FIG. 32 is a graph 3200 of reading intensities versus stepper motorposition for readings taken while driving chemical indicator disc 2508(FIG. 25) in a counterclockwise direction relative to FIG. 25. As withcurve 3104 of FIG. 31, curve 3204 of graph 3200 is a fitted curve fittedto the data points. Region 3208 of curve 3204 corresponds to readingstaken from chemical indicator 2520 (FIG. 25) and region 3212 of thecurve corresponds to readings taken from chemical indicator 2500. Region3216 of curve 3204 corresponds to readings taken at space 2524 (FIG. 25)between chemical indicators 2520 and 2500, which, again is black plasticin this example. Those skilled in the art will understand that thestepper motor positions shown in graphs 3100 and 3200 are absolute andnot directional. Therefore, assuming the stepper motor positionsincrease as disc 2508 is rotated in a clockwise direction, the readingsof graph 3100 of FIG. 31 are taken in the stepper motor position order16, 17, 18, 19, etc., and the readings of graph 3200 of FIG. 32 areactually taken in reverse order, for example, 28, 27, 26, 25, etc.

Once intensity data has been obtained for readings taken in both theclockwise and counterclockwise direction, such as the data illustrated,respectively, by graphs 3100 and 3200, the data can be compared, forexample, using a cross-correlation function that compares the datapoints at each stepper motor position and finds the differences betweenthem to provide an error for that position. Indeed, the amount offriction, in terms of stepper motor positions, can be determined, forexample, by shifting one of curves 3100 and 3200 relative to the otherin one-step increments in both directions and calculating the sum of theerrors at each stepper motor position. When the two curves are at theirposition of greatest alignment, the sum of the errors at that steppermotor position will be at a minimum. With due noting of the stepperposition offset at which the minimum sum of errors occurs, the collecteddata can be adjusted accordingly. As can be readily appreciated, wherethe reading intensities in the two directions are the same orsubstantially the same at each and every position and the readings aretaken very close to one another in time so that differences due tochanges in the water parameter being measured can be neglected, thenthere is little to no friction in the system. This is illustrated byerror curve 3300 of FIG. 33 where the error is nearly zero at zerooffset, indicating that friction is not an issue. In contrast, errorcurve 3400 of FIG. 34 illustrates a situation in which friction ispresent. As can be seen in FIG. 34, in region 3404 of error curve 3400,which is at about an offset of five stepper positions, the cumulativeerror in intensity readings is relatively small, indicating thatfriction is causing the data collected in the two opposing directions tobe about five stepper positions off from one another.

It is noted that if the monitoring system/unit determines that thefriction and corresponding lag is excessive, it can take any one or moreof a number of actions, such as: 1) attempting to solve the frictionproblem (e.g., in a disc-based example, by spinning the disc rapidly inone or both directions and performing another friction analysis aftersuch spinning); 2) warning a user that the friction is too great; and 3)instructing a user to remove the chemical indicator apparatus (e.g.,disc) from the monitoring system/unit, clean the contacting parts of thechemical indicator apparatus and monitoring system/unit; and 4) instructa user to replace the chemical indicator apparatus or other part thatmay be causing the friction. It is noted that these actions may beperformed in a certain sequence, such as action 4 being taken only afterperforming action 1 one or more times and after performing action 3 oneor more times, among other sequences.

Dosing Protection/Action Matrix

Over time and for a variety of reasons, the readings/measurements takenby a water quality measuring/monitoring system/unit, such as any of suchsystems and units described in this disclosure, become less accurate.For example, reading error can be introduced due to any one or more ofthe following: 1) light output imbalance between “identical” lightsources; 2) light source degradation over time; 3) chemical indicatorphoto-aging; 4) chemical indicator water-aging; 5) chemical indicatorwater-borne fouling; 6) optical system water-borne fouling; and 7)friction between a chemical indicator apparatus and ameasuring/monitoring system/unit, among others. With so many sources oferror and with the desire to reasonably ensure that the aquaticenvironment being measured/monitored is being properlymeasured/monitored and/or is receiving proper dosing of additives, it isdesirable to determine the level of confidence that can be placed on thereadings being taken at any point in time. By determining a confidencelevel, the measuring/monitoring system/unit can then take certainactions (or not) as the confidence level decreases (or uncertaintyincreases).

FIG. 35 depicts an exemplary action matrix 3500 for a set of errorsources 3504. In this example, which is merely illustrative and shouldnot be considered limiting, each error source 3504 is assigned to a row3508 of matrix 3500, and each column 3512 corresponds to an uncertaintylevel 3516. Here, uncertainty levels 3516 range from “0” (i.e.,effectively no uncertainty) to “3” (highest uncertainty), with the levelbeing determined based on suitable information, such as photo-agingdata, water-aging data, friction-test data, light-balance data, etc.,that depends on the error source 3504 at issue. The various cells 3520of action matrix 3500 are actions that the correspondingmeasuring/monitoring system/unit, such as any one of themeasuring/monitoring systems/units described in this disclosure, takesrelative to each of error sources 3504 for each uncertainty level 3516.For example, when optical system water-borne fouling 3504(1) is theerror source 3504 at issue, when the measuring/monitoring system/unit atissue determines that uncertainty level 3516 is a relatively low “1”,then it may simply try to clean the optical system itself, such as byusing a cleaning element (e.g. cleaning element 1904 of FIG. 19) onboardthe system, such as on the chemical indicator apparatus. However, if themeasuring/monitoring system/unit determined that uncertainty level 3516for optical system water-borne fouling 3504(1) is moderate to high,i.e., “2” or “3”, for example after attempting to self-clean the opticalsystem, then the system/unit may issue an instruction (e.g., via a GUI)that instructs the user to remove the chemical indicator apparatus andclean it manually. As another example, when chemical indicatorapparatus/monitoring unit friction 3504(2) is the error source 3504 atissue, when the measuring/monitoring system/unit at issue determinesthat uncertainty level 3516 is a relatively low “1”, then it may simplytry to correct the friction problem. For example, if the chemicalindicator apparatus is a disc, then the measuring/monitoring system/unitcan spin the disc at a high speed for a certain amount of time. However,if the measuring/monitoring system/unit determined that uncertaintylevel 3516 for friction 3504(2) is moderate to high, i.e., “2” or “3”,for example after attempting to self-correct the friction problem, thenthe system/unit may issue an instruction (e.g., via a GUI) thatinstructs the user to remove the chemical indicator apparatus and cleanthe faying surfaces manually. Of course, these examples are onlyillustrative, and those skilled in the art will readily be able todevelop an action matrix for any particular embodiment and application.

As mentioned above, it is desirable to have a certain level ofconfidence in the measurements/readings that a givenmeasurement/monitoring system/unit is making to inhibit improper dosingof the water in the aquatic environment that is beingmeasured/monitored. Because errors can be cumulative, it can bedesirable to calculate an overall dosing confidence value based on theuncertainty levels for multiple error sources. In addition, because someerror sources may not be as important to determining an overall dosingconfidence value as others, any dosing confidence formula can includeweighting. Following is an example of a formula that can be used tocalculate a dosing confidence value, C:C=w ₁ U ₁ +w ₂ U ₂ +w ₃ U ₃ + . . . +w _(n) U _(n)  (1)

wherein:

-   -   U_(n) is the uncertainty level for a particular error source,        such as one of uncertainty levels 3516 for any one of error        sources 3504 of FIG. 35; and    -   W_(n) is a weight indicating the importance of the corresponding        error source in the determination of the dosing confidence value        C.

As will be readily appreciated, with this formula using the value ofuncertainty level 3516 of FIG. 35 for uncertainty levels and usingpositive real numbers for weights, the higher the dosing confidencevalue C, the lower the confidence that the dosing instructions (e.g.,automated dosing instructions 2428 and/or assisted dosing instructions2468 of FIG. 24) are correct. In an attempt to prevent improper dosingthat may severely negatively impact the aquatic environment, forexample, by killing fish, killing plants, killing coral, etc., if themeasurement/monitoring system/unit determines that the calculated dosingconfidence value C exceeds a predetermined threshold, then thesystem/unit may stop issuing dosing instructions altogether and/or issueone or more alerts, for example, via a GUI for the system/unit,providing one or more warnings to a user, such as that the monitoringsystem/unit will no longer issue dosing instructions, the monitoringsystem/unit should be checked, etc. Those skilled in the art will beable to determine a suitable threshold for a given situation. Thoseskilled in the art will also readily understand that Equation (1) forthe determination of a dosing confidence value is merely illustrativeand that any of a variety of other formulas can be used.

Dosing Rate Protection

Depending on the type of aquatic environment at issue, when dosing isneeded, there may be limits imposed on how quickly one or more dosingadditives should be added to the water. For example, for some species offish, rapid changes in the pH of the water can cause inflammation ofgill membranes. In some cases, the reaction to the rapid change can beso severe that the fish's ability to breathe is severely inhibited anddeath can result. In another example, if the aquatic environment is asaltwater-based coral environment and the water is at or near itscarbonate/calcium saturation point, then adding calcium too quickly tothe water can cause the precipitation of calcium carbonate, the effectof which is to undesirably reduce the level of those constituents. Inboth of these examples, as with many other examples that those skilledin the art will be familiar with or otherwise understand, it isdesirable to avoid negative effects by ensuring that dosing is performedat a rate that the negative consequences, such as the gill inflammationin the first example and the calcium carbonate precipitation in thesecond example, do not occur.

In order to avoid the negative consequences for any particular aquaticenvironment and dosing situation, a dosing calculator of the presentdisclosure, such as any of dosing calculators 120 (FIG. 1), 240 (FIG.2), and 2436 (FIG. 24), can make intelligent dosing rate decisions basedon appropriate information about the aquatic environment and provideeither automated dosing instructions and/or assisted dosinginstructions, such as automated dosing instructions 2428 and 2468 ofFIG. 24, respectively, based on those decisions. In this connection, auser interface, such as a GUI 3600 illustrated in FIG. 36 can beprovided to allow a user to select/input any information that the dosingcalculator would need to know in order to calculate dosing ratelimitations for any one or more of the additives that may need to beadded to the aquatic environment. As those skilled in the art willreadily appreciate, any user interface provided for this purpose can beconfigured in any one or more of a variety of manners to allow a user toenter the necessary information. For example, the user interface caninclude one or more selection devices (hardware and/or software), suchas drop-down menus, radio buttons, check boxes, etc., that allow a userto input the necessary information.

For example, GUI 3600 of FIG. 36, which is for a relativelylarge-screened computing device, such as a tablet computer, a laptopcomputer, or a desktop computer, includes 1) a drop-down water-typeselector 3604 that allows the user to select the water type, 2) a dosingmethod selector 3608 that allows the user to indicate the method ofdosing, 3) a drop-down doser make/model selector 3612 that allows theuser to input the doser being used, if any, 4) a number of additiveselectors 3616(1) to 3616(N) that each allow the user to select thebrand/type of each additive available for adding to the water, and 5)one or more supported species selectors, here, selectors 3620(1) and3620(2) for fish species and coral species, respectively. It is notedthat one or more of the selectors 3612, 3616(1) to 3616(N), 3620(1), and3620(2) can be dynamically generated based on selections made on one ormore other selectors. For example, doser make/model selector 3612 mayonly be displayed when either the “AUTO” or “ASSISTED/DOSER” areselected, fish species selector 3620(1) may be populated with only thespecies of fish compatible with the water type selected (e.g., onlyfreshwater fish are displayed when “FRESH” is selected), the coralspecies selector 3620(2) may appear only if “SALT W/ CORAL” is selected,and the number and type of additive selectors 3616(1) to 3616(N)displayed can be based on, for example, the water type selected alone orin combination with one or more of the fish and coral species selected.Once the user has input all of the appropriate parameters, they can bestored as aquatic environment parameters 3624 in a suitable data store3628. A properly programmed dosing calculator 3632 can use aquaticenvironment parameters 3624, along with a knowledge base 3636 of knownproblems that arise with dosing too fast and corresponding dosing ratesthat avoid those problems, to determine one or more proper dosinginstructions 3640 that avoid the relevant excessive-dosing-rateproblem(s). As mentioned above, dosing instructions 3640 can be of theautomated dosing type, assisted dosing type, or both, like dosinginstructions 2428 and 2468 of FIG. 24.

Confidence Levels Generally

As discussed above, a confidence level in one or more measurements by ameasurement/monitoring system/unit may be influenced by one or moreerrors (i.e., adverse conditions) in aquatic environment monitoringand/or dosing system. Examples of adverse conditions that may influencea confidence level in one or more measurements include, but are notlimited to, of a degradation in a chemical indicator due to photo-aging,a degradation in a chemical indicator due to water-aging, a physicalcontamination of a chemical indicator, an illumination imbalance relatedto an optical reader, a degradation of a light source of an opticalreader, a physical contamination in water between an optical reader anda chemical indicator, a displacement due to friction between a chemicalindicator apparatus and a monitoring unit, an error intrinsic in achemical indicator, an error in distance between a chemical indicatorapparatus and an optical reader, and any combinations thereof. In oneexemplary aspect, one or more measured values for one or moreerrors/conditions can be used to determine a confidence level for ameasurement taken from a chemical indicator. Different ways to measureerror/conditions are discussed throughout the current disclosure. In oneexample, a determination of a confidence level and/or generation ofinstructions for correcting the condition (e.g., automatically acting tocorrect the condition using one of the components of a aquaticenvironment monitoring/dosing system according to the currentdisclosure, alerting a user to the condition, such that the user may actto correct the condition, discarding data, etc.) can be executed by adosing calculator or other component of an aquatic environmentmonitoring and/or dosing system.

In certain examples, when a value of a confidence level exceeds athreshold (e.g., a threshold stored in a memory associated with anaquatic environment monitoring and/or dosing system as discussed herein)or moves to a position of interest, a confidence adjustment can begenerated (e.g., by a dosing calculator or other processing component ofa system). A confidence adjustment can be used to instruct an action.Example actions include, but are not limited to, actions by a monitordevice, actions by a dosing device, actions by another component of thesystem, actions by a user of the system, and any combinations thereof.Additionally, an action or an instruction to take an action related tocorrecting a condition of a component of the system can occur to correctone or more of the errors/adverse conditions discussed herein. Forexample, a measured value for a constituent of an aquatic environment(e.g., calcium, magnesium, pH, carbonate, etc.) may be modified based ona confidence value. Other examples include, but are not limited to,providing an alert or other instruction to a user (e.g., via a graphicaluser interface), automatically addressing an adverse condition, changinga rate of dosing, providing a modified assisted dosing instruction, andany combinations thereof.

Several ways of utilizing a confidence level are discussed above (e.g.,with respect to an action matrix, such as the action matrix shown inFIG. 35; with respect to Equation (1) discussed above for combiningconfidence level values for a plurality of errors/conditions. In otherexamples, confidence level data may be plotted and/or measured over timefor a plurality of data readings to show trends in confidence for thereadings over that time period. FIG. 37A illustrates an example of pHmeasured data over a four week time (top graph of the figure) withcorresponding confidence level data (lower graph of the figure). In thisexample, pH values are obtained using a plurality (e.g., ten) opticalspot readings on an chemical indicator, such as is discussed above withrespect to FIG. 29. At each time interval a plurality of pH values areobtained with the upper value of the plurality of values plotted overtime as line 3705 and the lower value of the plurality of values plottedover time as line 3710. Where the upper value line 3705 and lower valueline 3710 are closer together, the range of values measured from themultiple optical spots on the chemical indicator is small. Where theupper value line 3705 and lower value line 3710 deviate from each other,such as at location 3715 (where the lower values deviate greatly fromthe upper values) and at location 3720 (where the upper values deviategreatly from the lower values), the range between the values measuredfrom the multiple optical spots on the chemical indicator is large. Alarge range can be an indication of an obstruction or other errorcondition in one or more regions of the chemical indicator. The lowerconfidence plot in the figure shows confidence level in the measurementsin percentages. Where the range of measured pH values differ greatly,the confidence is shown to decrease (such as at locations in time 3715and 3720). The lower confidence plot also shows a 100% confidence level3725 (indicated by the horizontal dotted line) and a confidencethreshold indicated by the dotted line 3730. Confidence values below theconfidence threshold 3730 may trigger one or more actions, as discussedabove (such as alerting a user, discarding one or more measured values,automatically taking action (e.g., changing a rate of dosing, stoppingdosing, spinning an indicator disc at a high rate of speed, engaging acleaning mechanism to clean an optical reader optic, etc.))

The lower confidence plot also shows a sloping dotted line 3735illustrating the decreasing confidence in measurements over time (e.g.,due to known photo aging, aging of a chemical indicator due to waterexposure, etc.). Thus, in this example, confidence values decrease withvariations in the range of pH values and also decrease steadily overtime. Due in part to the decreasing confidence over time, the likelihoodof exceeding the threshold line 3730 increases with time in thisexample.

Confidence levels may also be influenced by measured data that changesrapidly over time. A rapid change surrounded by steady data values canbe indicative of a sudden change in environment, such as may be causedby a contaminant or other error condition in the monitoring system. FIG.37B illustrates another example of plotted confidence values. In thisexample, pH values each measured at one location on a chemical indicator(or alternatively an average of multiple measurements) at each iterationin time is plotted 3750 over a time of approximately 60 minutes. In thisexample, confidence levels (in the lower plot) are shown to decreasewhen the pH data has a rapid rate of change over time, such as atlocations 3755, 3760, and 3765.

Exemplary Enhancing Features and Alternatives

This section presents various features that can enhance any of thesystems and/or components thereof, as well as alternatives to variousparts of one or more of those systems and components. It is noted thateach of the features and alternatives described herein need notnecessarily be implemented in conjunction with any particular system orcomponent of the present disclosure, but rather can be implementedseparately so as to include only the necessary supporting features andelements.

Linear Combined I/LC and Line Camera

FIGS. 16 and 18 illustrate combined I/LCs 1600 and 1800, respectively,that are generally circular in form. FIG. 38, however, illustrates acombined I/LC 3800 that utilizes the same components as combined I/LCs1600 and 1800, but uses them in a linear form. As seen in FIG. 38,combined I/LC 3800 includes two linear spot lensings 3804(1) and (2) anda central linear light collector 3808 located between the two spotlensings. Depending on the number and configuration of the light sources(here, linear light sources 3810(1) and 3810(2)) used, each spot lensing3804(1) and 3804(2) can be used to form a plurality of discrete spots3812(1) to 3812(6) of light on a suitable target 3816 (such as achemical indicator having a length that is equal to or greater than thelength of combined I/LC 3800) or a continuous line-shaped “spot” 3820(1)and 3820(2) of light along the length of that spot lensing. In the caseof individual discrete spots, the size and location of spots 3812(1) to3812(6) can be carefully controlled by selecting the proper targetdistance between combined I/LC 3800 and target 3816 and carefullydesigning the optics of each of spot lensing 3804(1) and 3804(2) so thatthe discrete beams 3824(1) to 3824(6) of light converge at the properfocal points 3828(1) to 3828(3), as described above relative to FIG. 16.In the case of elongated light sources that provide line-spots 3820(1)and 3820(2), the width, W, of each of the lines can be carefullycontrolled in the same manner. Central light collector 3808 can bedesigned using the same principles described above relative to centrallight pipe 1644 of FIG. 16 so that the light collected from spots3812(1) to 3812(6) or 3820(1) and 3820(2) is maximized and conducted toone or more light sensors, here, a single line camera 3832, with orwithout one or more intervening light filters 3836, as needed.

In one example, the light source(s) corresponding to spot lensing3804(1) can be of one wavelength and the light source(s) correspondingto spot lensing 3804(2) can be of another wavelength. This would allowfor the use of a ratio or reference wavelength, as discussed above inthe context of reference illumination relative to FIG. 25, to assist inthe calibration of readings taken by line camera 3832 or other sensor(s)that may be used. Use of linear camera 3832, such as a linearcharge-coupled device (CCD), can enable fine resolution in the processof scanning the surface of target 3816 such that small imperfections andcontaminations of the target (e.g., chemical indicator) can beidentified and isolated during the data analysis process. A linearcombined I/LC, such as combined I/LC 3800 of FIG. 38 can also help acleaning element, such as a bristled element, be more effective sincethe bristles will all be hitting a surface that is at the same height atthe same time and, therefore, will have more uniform forces along thebristles as they glide over top of the light pipe. It is noted that thelinear elongated shape of combined I/LC 3800 is merely illustrative andthat other elongated shapes, such as laterally curved, wavy, zig-zag,and ring-shaped, among many others, are possible.

Apparatus for Ambient Light Analysis

FIG. 10 illustrates a chemical indicator disc (FF16) that fits, forexample, monitoring unit 812 of FIGS. 8 and 9. As described above, disc816 of FIG. 10 includes ten chemical indicator patches 1004(1) to1004(10) for taking readings indicative of various levels of parametersof the water in which the disc is submerged during use, such as water804 of FIG. 8. In some applications, such as aquarium monitoring, it isdesirable to know the quality of the light(s) being used with theaquarium. Light sources can degrade over time, resulting in decreasedlight quality over time. An optically based chemical indicatormonitoring/measuring system/unit of the present disclosure can readilybe adapted to take readings of the ambient light in the particularaquatic environment at issue.

In one embodiment using monitoring unit 812 of FIGS. 8 and 9 as anexample, when ambient light readings are desired, a user can temporarilyreplace chemical indicator disc 816 with a similar disc, but which hasvarious translucent color filters in place of various ones of chemicalindicator patches 1004(1) to 1004(10). Each color filter, which could bea gel-type filter, among others, would permit a different set ofwavelengths of the ambient light to pass through. In this manner, one ormore optical readers aboard monitoring unit 812, such as reader system400 of FIG. 4, can be used to take intensity readings of the filteredlight passing through one or more of the translucent color filters.Monitoring unit 812 could then use the information about the ambientlight collected using all of the color filters to analyze the spectralmakeup and brightness of the ambient light. A purpose of making thesespectral and brightness analyses is to ensure that coral and/or plantsin the aquatic environment have optimum light conditions forphotosynthesis. This special ambient light analysis disc could be used,for example, every month or so to check the quality of the light beingused. Replacing each of patches 1004(1) to 1004(10) of FIG. 10 with aunique color filter relative to the other filters provided on the discwould provide ten different light filters. This will typically be enoughto perform a good spectral analysis. However, if more filters areneeded, any of a number of modifications could be made, such assplitting each patch location into two or more different color filters.

Stationary Magnetic Element Disc Drive

FIG. 39 illustrates a stationary-magnet-element disc drive 3900 that canbe used in a rotary-type monitoring/measuring system/unit of the presentdisclosure, such as in the place of the stepper motor arrangementillustrated in FIG. 22. Referring to FIG. 39, disc drive 3900 includes aplurality of magnetically switchable magnet elements 3904 (only ahandful labeled for convenience (e.g., electromagnets, rotatablemagnets, magnets having movable magnetic shields, etc.) that areindividually switchable to change polarity, to change the location ofthe poles, and/or to change the magnetic state (e.g., from non-polarizedto polarized). Each magnetic element 3904 is located at a fixed location(i.e., stationary (note that the magnetic element could be moveable inplace in some embodiments) on a monitoring/measuring unit 3908 and iscapable of magnetically coupling with a disc 3912, such as a chemicalindicator disc or an ambient light analysis disc, that includes one ormore corresponding magnets, here magnets 3916(1) to 3916(4). As thoseskilled in the art can readily appreciate, monitoring unit 3908 caninclude a suitable controller 3920 that is configured, for example, viasoftware and/or hardware, to control the states of magnetic elements3904 so that their interaction with magnets 3916(1) to 3916(4) causesdisc 3912 to rotate about its central rotational axis 3924. The numberand arrangement of the magnetic elements, as well as the switchingscheme implemented, can be varied to achieve the desired number of stepsin a full revolution of disc 3912. In one example, the arrangement andcontrolling of the magnetic elements could be executed to create thesmall incremental steps described above in connection with themulti-reading scheme of FIG. 25.

Cylindrical Chemical Indicator Apparatus and Monitoring/MeasuringTherefor

FIG. 40 illustrates a monitoring/measuring system 4000 that includes achemical indicator apparatus that is in the form of a chemical indicatorcylinder 4004. Cylinder 4004 has a plurality of longitudinal chemicalindicators, of which 4008(1) to 4008(3) are visible in FIG. 40. Each ofthese indicators can be any one of the chemical indicator typesdescribed above, or other type that will be known to those skilled inthe art. In this embodiment, chemical indicators 4008(1) to 4008(3) areoptically readable, for example, in any of the manners noted above, andthey are read using a reader (not shown) having a linear combined I/LC4012. As those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, combined I/LC4012 can be similar to linear combined I/LC 3800 of FIG. 38, includinghaving all of the appurtenances described in connection therewith, suchas line camera 3832, filter(s) 3836 and other features. In this example,cylinder 4004 of FIG. 40 includes a holder 4016 that supports thechemical indicators. For convenience, a handle 4020 is attached toholder 4016 to allow a user to readily handle cylinder 4004, especiallyduring insertion and removal of the cylinder from a correspondingmonitoring/measuring unit 4024. Although not shown, monitoring/measuringunit 4024 can include any one or more of the features described abovewith respect to other monitoring/measuring units, including unit 2202 ofFIG. 22 and unit 2300 of FIG. 23, among others. In addition, cylinder4004 can include any one or more of the features described aboverelative to other chemical indicator apparatuses, including, forexample, flow promoting features (passages, fins, etc.) for promotingthe flow of water around the chemical indicators, one or more cleaningelements for cleaning combined I/LC 4012, and replaceable elements forreplacing individual ones or groups of the chemical indicators, amongothers. In addition, monitoring/measuring system 4000 can be used in anyof the automated dosing, assisted dosing, monitoring, and measuringsystems described herein.

Chemical Indicator Apparatuses Having Replaceable Elements

Each of the chemical indicator apparatuses shown in the drawings up tothis point of the disclosure suggest that the chemical indicators oneach of those apparatuses are fixed. Thus, even if only one or fewerthan all of the chemical indicators on a particular apparatus have agedto the point that they should no longer be used, a user's only option torestore reading accuracy and reliability to overcome this aging is toreplace the entire apparatus. However, in some cases it would bedesirable to have chemical indicator apparatuses wherein the chemicalindicators can be individually replaced and/or replaced in groups forany of a variety of reasons. In addition to being able to useslower-aging chemical indicators for longer periods of time beforereplacement, providing chemical indicator apparatuses with replaceablechemical indicators allows, for example, for the replacement of damagedindicators (such as an indicator that is accidentally scratched whilebeing handled) and for modifying a particular apparatus for reading adifferent set of water parameters than the apparatus was previously setup for.

FIG. 41 illustrates a chemical indicator apparatus 4100 havingindividually replaceable elements, two of which being illustrated inFIG. 41 as disengaged element 4104 and engaged element 4108. Apparatus4100 includes a holder 4112 that, in this example, is configured toreceive up to eight individually replaceable elements in sectorizedreceivers 4116(1) to 4116(8). In the embodiment shown, each element,such as elements 4104 and 4108, is removably engaged with holder 4112via a tab 4120 that engages, in this example, a corresponding one ofeight like slots 4124(2) to 4124(8) so as to form an interference fitwhen the element is fully engaged with the holder, as is illustrated byelement 4108. Though not shown, each element is secured in place by asnap-lock latch tab on its underside (i.e., the side that faces theholder when properly engaged). In this example, the latch tab forms aninterference fit with an edge 4128(2) to 4128(8) of a correspondingopening 4132(2) to 4132(8) and urges the radially inward end 4136(1) and4136(2) into engagement with, in this case, a circular stop 4140 onholder.

In the example shown, element 4104 includes three chemical indicators4144(1) to 4144(3) that can be of the same type or of differing types.Depending on the motivation for elementizing chemical indicatorapparatus 4100 (e.g., for differing aging characteristics, adaption fordiffering water chemistries, etc.), the grouping of chemical indicators4144(1) to 4144(3) can be selected accordingly. It is noted that whilethree chemical indicators 4144(1) to 4144(3) are shown, each element,including element 4104, can have more or fewer chemical indicators andalso/alternatively have one or more other features, such as one or morecleaning elements, one or more optical filters, one or more informationcontaining devices, such as RFID tag 4148, one or more indexingmarkings, such as optical markings 4152(1) to 4152(3), etc. In thisexample, at least chemical indicator 4144(2) is read by a correspondingoptical reader 4156, which can be any suitable optical measuring reader,such as any one of the optical readers described above. Optical indexingmarkings 4152(1) to 4152(3) are read by a corresponding optical indexingreader 4160. Of course, other replaceable elements need not include anyof these additional features, depending on the application at issue. Ofcourse, chemical indicator apparatus 4100 is merely illustrative of themany apparatuses that can be composed in an elementized fashion.

FIG. 42 illustrates a generally rectangular chemical indicator apparatus4200 that includes a holder 4208 and one individually replaceableelement 4212 engageable with a corresponding receiver 4216(1). As withthe replaceable elements of apparatus 4100 of FIG. 41, each replaceableelement (of which only one 4212 is shown) can have any number ofchemical indicators and/or other features, such as the other featuresdescribed above with respect to FIG. 41. In this example, though,element 4212 contains only a single chemical indicator 4220. In thisexample, receiver 4216(1) is uniquely keyed with key features 4224designed and configured to receive only a complementarily keyedreplaceable element, such as element 4212, having complementary keyfeatures 4228. In systems wherein the type of chemical indicator beingread can only be determined by position, keying, for example via keyfeatures 4224 and 4228 shown, can be a way of ensuring that the properchemical indicator is in the proper position. It is noted that the sameor similar keying system can be used on a wide variety of chemicalindicator apparatuses having replaceable elements, including chemicalindicator apparatus 4100 of FIG. 41. In the embodiment shown, element4212 is held in position via a latch 4232 that engages a correspondingslot 4236 in the element. Other holding devices can be used in otherembodiments.

In the view of FIG. 42, holder includes a second receiver 4216(2) forreceiving a replaceable chemical indicator element (not shown) that islarger than element 4212 shown. The different size can be due to any oneor more of a number of reasons, including enabling easy replacement of agroup of chemical indicators having roughly the same agingcharacteristics, easy switching of a group of chemical indicators forone set of monitoring scenario for another monitoring scenario (e.g.,fresh water to saltwater), and enabling easy replacement of a chemicalindicator that needs to be larger than other chemical indicators, suchas chemical indicator 4220, among others.

Control of Flora and/or Fauna Growth Rates

FIG. 43 illustrates a setup 4300 that includes an aquatic environment4304 that supports one or more aquatic life forms 4308, the growth ofwhich is/are controllable by controlling the amounts of one or moreadditives 4312(1) to 4312(N) added to the water 4316 in the aquaticenvironment. For example, if life form 4308 is coral, the growth rate ofthe coral can be controlled by controlling, for example, the amount ofcalcium added to water 4316. As another example, if life form 4308 is aparticular type of plant that has a growth rate dependent on the amountof carbon dioxide present in water 4316, the amount of light, and/or theamount of fertilizer, then the growth rate of the plant can becontrolled by controlling the amount of carbon dioxide and/or fertilizeradded to the water and/or the amount of light provided to aquaticenvironment 4304.

In this example, setup 4300 includes a monitoring system 4320, which canbe any one of the monitoring systems described herein or similar systemutilizing one or more of the disclosed features. Setup also includes anauto-doser 4324 and a dosing calculator 4328 that generates dosinginstructions 4332 based on water-quality measurements 4336 acquired viamonitoring system 4320 and programmed-in parameters 4340 specific toaquatic environment 4304, such as water type, fish species, watervolume, coral species, plant species, etc. In operative communicationwith dosing calculator 4328 is a growth controller 4344, which in thisexample allows user to select the amount of growth that the user wouldlike the coral (life form 4308) to experience. As those skilled in theart will readily understand, the growth rate of coral is affected bycalcium and alkalinity relative to the saturation limit of water 4316.If calcium and alkalinity are kept a small amount below the saturationlimit, the growth rate will be the fastest. However, if the free calcium(Ca²⁺) is around 400 parts per million (ppm), the “growth” will be moreof maintenance of the current growth rate. If the free calcium goesbelow about 400 ppm, for example, then the coral (life form 4308)“growth” will be negative, i.e., the amount of coral will shrink. Growthcontroller 4344 allows the user to select the rate of coral growthdesired and then modifies the dosing calculations that dosing calculator4328 performs for the relevant parameter and additives. For example, ifthe user selects a fast growth rate, growth controller 4344 would causedosing calculator 4328 to base its dosing calculations for calcium andalkalinity so that they remain close to the saturation point. Incontrast, if the user selects a low or negative growth rate, growthcontroller 4344 would cause dosing calculator 4328 to base its relevantcalculations on keeping the free calcium around or below 400 ppm.

To assist a user in setting a desired growth rate, growth controller4344 may include a suitable UI 4348 that includes one or more controls4352 that allow the user to select a desired coral growth rate. The oneor more controls 4352 can take any of a wide variety of forms. Forexample, when UI 4348 is a GUI implemented in software, such as mobilecomputing device app 4356, the one or more controls 4352 can be one ormore soft controls, such as a slider 4360 that can be positionedadjacent the desired one of “Reduce”, “Maintain”, “Slow Growth”, and“Maximum Growth”. Alternatively, for example, slider 4360 can bereplaced by a set of soft radio buttons (not shown) or a soft dial,among other things. If UI 4348 is hardware based, the one or morecontrols 4352 could be hard controls, such as a physical slider,physical radio buttons, physical dial, etc. As mentioned above, similarfeatures can be implements for plants and/or any other life forms thegrowth of which can be regulated via controlling the dosing of one ormore additives 4312(1) to 4312(N) added to the water 4316 and/or theamount of light provided to aquatic environment 4304.

Social Networking and Targeted Marketing

As described above, some embodiments of the various systems of thisdisclosure are utilized in a cloud-computing environment. Acloud-computing environment can allow for providing software-basedservices to multiple subscribers to the services. In the context of thepresent disclosure, a cloud-computing implementation of water-qualitymonitoring systems can be configured to allow multiple subscribers, eachwith one or more water-quality monitoring systems, to become linked withone another, for example, via a social-networking platform. For exampleand in the context of aquariums, cloud-computing software for providingsocial networking and/or related services can be configured to receiveinformation about each subscriber's aquarium setup(s), including, butnot limited to, any one or more of the following: tank size; water type;fish species; coral species; plant species; dosing additives, andtype(s) of tank-support equipment, such as equipment for lighting,heating, filtering, pumping, dosing, etc. In addition, thecloud-computing software can also be configured to receive informationfrom the subscribers' water quality monitoring systems, including, butnot limited to, any one or more of the following: aquarium conditions,such as chemical levels, temperature, light readings, pumping status;alarms and/or notifications, such as alarms and/or notifications forout-of-tolerance water-quality conditions, monitoring systems errorsand/or confidence levels (e.g., for chemical indicator photo-aging,chemical indicator water aging, indicator wheel friction, opticsfouling, etc.; and dosing instructions, among others.

Using the forgoing and/or other information known to the cloud-computingsoftware for multiple subscribers, the software can be configured toprovide the subscribers with any one or more of a variety of usefulfunctionalities. For example, the software may automatedly groupsubscribers into one or more social groups based on any one or more ofpieces of information that the software knows, such as any one or moreof the pieces of information known about the subscribers' setup and/orany one or more of the pieces of information known from the subscribers'monitoring systems. As examples of automated grouping, the software mayautomatedly assign subscribers to the one or more relevant groups orautomatedly notify subscribers of the relevant group(s) they may want tojoin. Examples of social groups include groups based on water type(e.g., brackish, saltwater, freshwater), groups based on species (e.g.,coral, fish, plants, etc.), groups based on problems with setup (e.g.,problems with maintaining calcium levels, problems with maintaining pHlevels, problems with excess algae growth, problems with theirmonitoring systems, etc.) among many others. With such social grouping,subscribers that share one or more commonalities relating to theiraquarium setups can also share their problems and their resolutions tothose problems, share their dosing regimes, as well as otherinformation, such as sharing photos, videos, and stories concerningtheir setups with others that may be interested because of the sharedcommonalities. In addition, when a subscriber to the cloud computingsoftware wishes to chat with other subscribers of the online aquariumcommunity, the software can be configured to automatedly permit sharingof data, trends, fish species, etc., to enable other subscribers tounderstand the setup, problems, and/or successes of other users. Inessence, such cloud-computing software marries physical data collectionand diagnostics to social networking.

Regarding targeted marketing, any networked implementation of amonitoring system of the present disclosure can include atargeted-marketing feature that sends relevant advertising to asubscriber as a function of information known about that subscriber'ssystem, such as any one or more of the pieces of information noted aboverelative to the social networking features. In one example, if a problemor alert condition happens and a subscriber receives a notification viaa smartphone or other method, they can also be target marketed for asolution to the issue they have. For instance, if the subscriber'scarbonate hardness is too low, the cloud application can suggestcommercial additives that might correct their water issues. Themanufacturers of these additives can bid on marketing space for specificproduct suggestions to end users of the system.

Exemplary Installations

As mentioned above, a monitoring/measuring system/unit of the presentdisclosure can be used in a wide variety of applications. Following aresome exemplary installations of monitoring/measuring systems/units toillustrate the variety of differing applications and number of ways thevarious components of such systems/units can be configured to suit aparticular application. Of course, the following installations aremerely illustrative and, therefore, should not be taken as limiting thenumber and type of installation and system/unit configurations.

Plumbed-In System

FIG. 44 illustrates a monitoring system 4400 integrated into awatertight unit 4404 that can be inserted into plumbing (not shown) thatis used to circulate water (illustrated by arrow 4408) within an aquaticenvironment (not shown, but could be, for example, any of the aquaticenvironments shown or mentioned herein). Monitoring system 4400 includesa chemical indicator apparatus 4412 that, when unit 4404 is closed, isfree to rotate within a water chamber 4416 within the unit under theinfluence of water 4408 flowing through the unit. In this example, theflow of water 4408 provides the motive force that rotates apparatus 4412during use for monitoring. In this connection, apparatus 4412 includes aholder 4420 that has a plurality of paddles 4424 that water 4408 strikesas it moves through unit 4404 so as to cause the holder to rotate aboutrotational axis 4428. While some embodiments can be designed carefullyin conjunction with the flow of water 4408 so that the rotation ofapparatus 4412 is suitable for readings to be taken, other embodimentsmay optionally include one or more speed/position control devices 4432,such as a caliper brake, an escapement mechanism, etc., that ensure thatthe proper speed and/or reading locations are utilized. As anotheralternative, monitoring system 4400 may also or alternatively include aspeed sensing system 4436 that senses the rotational speed of apparatusand adjusts the acquisition of readings accordingly. Such a speedsensing system 4436 may include a rotary sensor system (not shown) or anindexed sensing system (e.g., optical, magnetic, etc.), among manyothers Like other monitoring systems/units described herein, monitoringsystem 4400 includes one or more optical readers 4440 for taking one ormore readings of each of the chemical indicators, here six chemicalindicators 4444(1) to 4444(6) are shown. In this example, unit 4404includes single water inlet 4448 and a single water outlet 4452, thoughother embodiments can contain more of either or both. The rotation ofchemical indicator apparatus 4412 induces sufficient circulation ofwater within chamber 4416. While not shown, those skilled in the artwill readily appreciate that monitoring system 4400 can be deployed inany suitable environment, such as any of the wireless, wired, networked,cloud-computing, standalone, etc., environments described herein withsuitable modifications that will be clear to those skilled in the artafter reading this entire disclosure.

Standard Aquarium Sump Setup

Various figures already described illustrate monitoring and/or dosingsystems deployed in the context of aquariums. For example, FIGS. 8 and24 describe various aquarium-centric setups in which the correspondingrespective monitoring systems 812 and 2404 are submerged directly in thecorresponding aquarium 808 and 2420, respectively. However, someaquarium setups, especially setups having larger aquariums, have sumps.In such cases, it can be desirable to deploy a monitoring system of thepresent disclosure in the sump. FIG. 45 shows an aquarium sump 4500 witha monitoring system 4504 positioned in the sump. In this example,monitoring system 4504 is the same as or similar to the monitoringsystem illustrated in FIG. 9 as comprising monitoring unit 812 andchemical indicator disc 816. However, it should be understood thatmonitoring system 4504 can be any other monitoring system describedherein. That said, since the monitoring system of FIG. 9 is a partiallysubmersible system, FIG. 45 illustrates a waterline 4508 that indicatesthe level of the water (not shown) that should be present in sump 4500when monitoring system 4504 is operating. As can be seen andappreciated, waterline 4508 of FIG. 45 corresponds to waterline 920 ofFIG. 9. Those skilled in the art will readily understand that aquariumsumps vary in configuration and that sump 4500 is merely illustrativeand, therefore, non-limiting.

Customized Aquarium Setup

FIG. 46 illustrates an aquarium setup 4600 having a tank 4604 that is“customized” to include features that enable implementing a monitoringsystem 4608 in which only the chemical indicator apparatus, herechemical indicator disc 4612, is submerged in the water 4616 within thetank. In this manner, all of the electronics 4620 and other componentscan be kept completely out of water 4616. In this example, the “custom”features include a recess 4624 formed within a wall 4628 (e.g., sidewall or bottom wall) of tank 4604 that receives most or all of thecomponents of the monitoring unit 4632 portion of monitoring system4608. It is noted that in other embodiments, recess 4624 need not be solarge (e.g., so that it does not include all or nearly all of monitoringunit 4632) or it need not be present at all, in which case monitoringunit 4632 would be on the outside of an otherwise flat wall. However, inthe illustrated embodiment, with all components of monitoring unit 4632located in recess 4624, a closure 4636 is provided to generally seal themonitoring unit in the recess. It is noted that closure 4636 can beintegrated with monitoring unit 4632 such that its portions that engagewall 4628 can be flanges 4640 that can be used to secure the monitoringunit to tank 4604.

The “custom” features also include one or more combined I/LCs, here twocombined I/LCs 4644(1) and 4644(2) that extend through correspondingrespective openings 4648(1) and 4648(2) in wall 4628. Each combined I/LC4644(1) and I/LC 46(2) is engaged with the corresponding opening 4648(1)and 4648(2) so that a watertight seal is created to keep water 4616 fromentering recess 4624. Though not shown, other features can be providedthrough wall 4628, such as conductivity electrodes described elsewhereherein. It is noted that in other embodiments, the sealing member(s) canbe of a different type. For example, the sealing member can be an insert(not shown) that contains combined I/LCs 4644(1) and 4644(2) and thatitself is sealingly inserted into an opening in wall 4628 within recess4624. In the example shown, chemical indicator disc 4612 is rotatablyengaged with a suitable receiver 4652 that is fixedly secured to wall4628 and is driven by a magnetic coupling, for example, like either ofthe magnetic couplings illustrated in FIGS. 13 and 39. In this manner,monitoring unit 4632 can be removed entirely without any leakage ofwater 4616 into recess 4624. To inhibit ambient light from reaching thespace 4656 between disc 4612 and wall 4628, disc 4612 includes an apron4660 and the wall of tank 4604 includes a corresponding generallyannular flange 4664. Features and aspects of each of monitoring unit4632 and disc 4612 can be the same or similar to features and aspects ofother monitoring units and chemical indicator apparatuses describedherein.

Hidden Aquarium Monitoring System Setup

FIG. 47 illustrates an aquarium setup 4700 having an aquarium tank 4704in which a monitoring system 4708 is hidden from view by an observerlooking into the tank through at least a side wall 4712 of the tank. Inthis example, the concealment is due to the use of an aesthetic featureinside tank 4704, here an artificial tube coral structure 4716 thatconceals a chemical indicator apparatus 4718 of monitoring system 4708and an opaque tank stand 4720 that conceals a monitoring unit 4724 ofthe monitoring system. In other embodiments, a monitoring system can beconcealed using one or more different types of aesthetic features withinan aquarium tank and/or one or more different types of externalfeatures. In addition, it is noted that in other embodiments, an entiremonitoring system, such as monitoring system 2200 of FIG. 22, can belocated within tank 4704 in place of just apparatus 4718. In that case,the only part on the outside of tank 4704, here in place of monitoringunit 4724 could be the inductive power source, for example, secondtransformer component 2270 of FIG. 22. Returning to FIG. 47, it is notedthat monitoring system 4708 can be similar to monitoring system 4608 ofFIG. 46 in that it can have one or more combined I/LCs 4728 (FIG. 47)integrated with a bottom wall 4732 of tank 4704. More generally,monitoring system 4708 of FIG. 47 can be the same as or similar to anyother monitoring system described herein.

Non-Aquarium Closed-Loop Systems

While the foregoing setups focus on aquarium setups, monitoring and/ordosing systems of the present disclosure can be implemented in virtuallyany aquatic environment having a closed-loop circulation system. Forexample, FIG. 48 illustrates the deployment of a monitoring system 4800of the present disclosure in an exemplary non-aquarium closed-loop setup4804. In this example, setup 4804 includes one or more bodies of water4908, such as a swimming pool, hot tub, pond, fountain, etc., in whichthe water is treated to maintain its clarity and/or healthfulness. Setup4804 also includes a support system 4812 that includes plumbing 4816 andequipment for maintaining water 4808. In the embodiment shown, supportsystem 4912 includes a circulation pump 4820 and a filter system 4824.In exemplary setup 4804, monitoring system 4800 is installed in anappropriate location within support system 4812, such as in plumbing4816. In one example, monitoring system 4800 can be configured in amanner similar to plumbed-in system 4400 of FIG. 16. However, in otherembodiments, monitoring system 4800 can be located elsewhere withinsetup 4804 in any suitable manner, such as within a component of filtersystem 4824, a part of circulation pump 4820, among many otherlocations. In addition, monitoring system 4800 can be the same as orsimilar to any of the other monitoring systems described herein.

In the embodiment shown, closed-loop setup 4804 optionally includes adosing calculator 4828, which depending on how additives are dosed towater 4808 when needed, can generate automated dosing instructions 4832,assisted dosing instructions 4836, or both types of instructions. Inthis example, setup 4804 optionally includes an automated dosing system4840 designed and configured to add one or more additives to water 4808according to automated dosing instructions 4832. Depending on how manyadditives are needed to maintain the quality of water 4808 and how manyof those additives auto-dosing system 4840 can dispense, the dosing ofthe water can be complemented, or not, by dosing performed manuallyeither by hand or a manually controlled doser (not shown) based onassisted dosing instructions 4936. Various examples of automated dosingand assisted dosing instructions suitable for implementation asautomated dosing instructions 4832 and assisted dosing instructions 4836are described above. In addition, various ways in which dosingcalculator 4828 can function and receive the various information neededfor determining and generating automated dosing instructions 4832 and/orassisted dosing instructions 4836 are described above. All of theaspects and features described above relative to dosing calculators,automated dosing instructions, and assisted dosing instructions can beapplied to dosing calculator 4828, automated dosing instructions 4832,and assisted dosing instructions 4836 of FIG. 48.

Open-Loop Systems

While the foregoing setups largely focus on closed-loop setups,monitoring/measuring and/or dosing systems of the present disclosure canbe implemented in virtually any aquatic environment having an open-loopcirculation system. For example, FIG. 49 illustrates the deployment of amonitoring system 4900 of the present disclosure in an exemplaryopen-loop setup 4904. In this example, setup 4904 includesmonitored/measured water 4908, such as water in a domestic waterdistribution system, a wastewater treatment facility, an industrialprocessing process, etc. Setup 4904 also includes a feed-water system4912 that includes plumbing 4916 and in some cases equipment (not shown)for processing water 4908. Examples of such equipment include but arenot limited to filters, softeners, etc. In exemplary setup 4904,monitoring system 4900 is installed in an appropriate location withinsupport system 4912, such as in plumbing 4916. In one example,monitoring system 4900 can be configured in a manner similar toplumbed-in system 4400 of FIG. 16. However, in other embodiments,monitoring system 4900 can be located elsewhere within setup 4904 in anysuitable manner. In addition, monitoring system 4900 can be the same asor similar to any of the other monitoring systems described herein.

In the embodiment shown, open-loop setup 4904 optionally includes adosing calculator 4920, which depending on how additives are dosed towater 4908 when needed, can generate automated dosing instructions 4924,assisted dosing instructions 4928, or both types of instructions. Inthis example, setup 4804 optionally includes an automated dosing system4932 designed and configured to add one or more additives to water 4808according to automated dosing instructions 4924. Depending on how manyadditives are needed to maintain the quality of water 4908 and how manyof those additives auto-dosing system 4932 can dispense, the dosing ofthe water can be complemented, or not, by dosing performed manuallyeither by hand or a manually controlled doser (not shown) based onassisted dosing instructions 4928. Various examples of automated dosingand assisted dosing instructions suitable for implementation asautomated dosing instructions 4924 and assisted dosing instructions 4928are described above. In addition, various ways in which dosingcalculator 4920 can function and receive the various information neededfor determining and generating automated dosing instructions 4924 and/orassisted dosing instructions 4928 are described above. All of theaspects and features described above relative to dosing calculators,automated dosing instructions, and assisted dosing instructions can beapplied to dosing calculator 4920, automated dosing instructions 4924,and assisted dosing instructions 4928 of FIG. 49.

It is to be noted that the aspects and embodiments described herein maybe conveniently implemented using one or more machines (e.g., one ormore computing devices/computer systems that are part of an aquaticenvironment monitoring and/or dosing system) including hardware andspecial programming according to the teachings of the presentspecification, as will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in thecomputer art. Appropriate software coding can readily be prepared byskilled programmers based on the teachings of the present disclosure, aswill be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the software art.

Such software may be a computer program product that employs amachine-readable hardware storage medium. A machine-readable storagemedium may be any medium that is capable of storing and/or encoding asequence of instructions for execution by a machine (e.g., a computingdevice) and that causes the machine to perform any one of themethodologies and/or embodiments described herein. Examples of amachine-readable hardware storage medium include, but are not limitedto, a magnetic disk (e.g., a conventional floppy disk, a hard drivedisk), an optical disk (e.g., a compact disk “CD”, such as a readable,writeable, and/or re-writable CD; a digital video disk “DVD”, such as areadable, writeable, and/or rewritable DVD), a magneto-optical disk, aread-only memory “ROM” device, a random access memory “RAM” device, amagnetic card, an optical card, a solid-state memory device (e.g., aflash memory), an EPROM, an EEPROM, and any combinations thereof. Amachine-readable medium, as used herein, is intended to include a singlemedium as well as a collection of physically separate media, such as,for example, a collection of compact disks or one or more hard diskdrives in combination with a computer memory. As used herein, amachine-readable storage medium does not include a signal.

Such software may also include information (e.g., data) carried as adata signal on a data carrier, such as a carrier wave. Such a datasignal or carrier wave would not be considered a machine-readablehardware storage medium. For example, machine-executable information maybe included as a data-carrying signal embodied in a data carrier inwhich the signal encodes a sequence of instruction, or portion thereof,for execution by a machine (e.g., a computing device) and any relatedinformation (e.g., data structures and data) that causes the machine toperform any one of the methodologies and/or embodiments describedherein.

Examples of a computing device include, but are not limited to, acomputer workstation, a terminal computer, a server computer, a handhelddevice (e.g., tablet computer, a personal digital assistant “PDA”, amobile telephone, etc.), a web appliance, a network router, a networkswitch, a network bridge, any machine capable of executing a sequence ofinstructions that specify an action to be taken by that machine, and anycombinations thereof. In one example, a computing device may includeand/or be included in, a kiosk. In another example, a dosing calculator(as discussed herein) may be associated with (e.g., be part of, beconnected to, be included in, etc.) a computing device or any partthereof.

FIG. 50 shows a diagrammatic representation of one exemplary embodimentof a computing system 5000, within which a set of instructions forcausing one or more processors 5004 to perform any one or more of thefunctionalities, aspects, and/or methodologies of the presentdisclosure. It is also contemplated that multiple computing systems maybe utilized to implement a specially configured set of instructions forperforming any one or more of the functionalities, aspects, and/ormethodologies of the present disclosure in a distributed computingmatter.

Computing system 5000 can also include a memory 5008 that communicateswith the one or more processors 5004, and with other components, forexample, via a bus 5012. Bus 5012 may include any of several types ofbus structures including, but not limited to, a memory bus, a memorycontroller, a peripheral bus, a local bus, and any combinations thereof,using any of a variety of bus architectures.

Memory 5008 may include various components (e.g., machine-readablehardware storage media) including, but not limited to, a random accessmemory component (e.g., a static RAM “SRAM”, a dynamic RAM “DRAM”,etc.), a read only component, and any combinations thereof. In oneexample, a basic input/output system 5016 (BIOS), including basicroutines that help to transfer information between elements withincomputing system 5000, such as during start-up, may be stored in memory5008. Memory 5008 may also include (e.g., stored on one or moremachine-readable hardware storage media) instructions (e.g., software)5020 embodying any one or more of the aspects and/or methodologies ofthe present disclosure. In another example, memory 5008 may furtherinclude any number of program modules including, but not limited to, anoperating system, one or more application programs, other programmodules, program data, and any combinations thereof.

Computing system 5000 may also include a storage device 5024, such as,but not limited to, the machine readable hardware storage mediumdescribed above. Storage device 5024 may be connected to bus 5012 by anappropriate interface (not shown). Example interfaces include, but arenot limited to, SCSI, advanced technology attachment (ATA), serial ATA,universal serial bus (USB), IEEE 1394 (FIREWIRE), and any combinationsthereof. In one example, storage device 5024 (or one or more componentsthereof) may be removably interfaced with computing system 5000 (e.g.,via an external port connector (not shown)). Particularly, storagedevice 5024 and an associated machine-readable medium 5028 may providenonvolatile and/or volatile storage of machine-readable instructions,data structures, program modules, and/or other data for computing system5000. In one example, software instructions 5020 may reside, completelyor partially, within machine-readable hardware storage medium 5028. Inanother example, software instructions 5020 may reside, completely orpartially, within processors 5004.

Computing system 5000 may also include an input device 5032. In oneexample, a user of computing system 5000 may enter commands and/or otherinformation into computing system 5000 via one or more input devices5032. Examples of an input device 5032 include, but are not limited to,an alpha-numeric input device (e.g., a keyboard), a pointing device, ajoystick, a gamepad, an audio input device (e.g., a microphone, a voiceresponse system, etc.), a cursor control device (e.g., a mouse), atouchpad, an optical scanner, a video capture device (e.g., a stillcamera, a video camera), touch screen, and any combinations thereof.Input device(s) 5032 may be interfaced to bus 5012 via any of a varietyof interfaces (not shown) including, but not limited to, a serialinterface, a parallel interface, a game port, a USB interface, aFIREWIRE interface, a direct interface to bus 5012, and any combinationsthereof. Input device(s) 5032 may include a touch screen interface thatmay be a part of or separate from display(s) 5036, discussed furtherbelow. Input device(s) 5032 may be utilized as a user selection devicefor selecting one or more graphical representations in a graphicalinterface as described above.

A user may also input commands and/or other information to computingsystem 5000 via storage device 5024 (e.g., a removable disk drive, aflash drive, etc.) and/or network interface device(s) 5040. A networkinterface device, such as any one of network interface device(s) 5040may be utilized for connecting computing system 5000 to one or more of avariety of networks, such as network 5044, and one or more remotedevices 5048 connected thereto. Examples of a network interface deviceinclude, but are not limited to, a network interface card (e.g., amobile network interface card, a LAN card), a modem, and any combinationthereof. Examples of a network include, but are not limited to, a widearea network (e.g., the Internet, an enterprise network), a local areanetwork, a telephone network, a data network associated with atelephone/voice provider, a direct connection between two computingdevices, and any combinations thereof. A network, such as network 5044,may employ a wired and/or a wireless mode of communication. In general,any network topology may be used. Information (e.g., data, softwareinstructions 5020, etc.) may be communicated to and/or from computingsystem 5000 via network interface device(s) 5040.

Computing system 5000 may further include one or more video displayadapter 5052 for communicating a displayable image to one or moredisplay devices, such as display device(s) 5036. Examples of a displaydevice include, but are not limited to, a liquid crystal display (LCD),a cathode ray tube (CRT), a plasma display, a light emitting diode (LED)display, and any combinations thereof. Display adapter(s) 5052 anddisplay device(s) 5036 may be utilized in combination with processor(s)5004 to provide a graphical representation of a utility resource, alocation of a land parcel, and/or a location of an easement to a user.In addition to a display device, computing system 5000 may include oneor more other peripheral output devices including, but not limited to,an audio speaker, a printer, and any combinations thereof. Suchperipheral output devices may be connected to bus 5012 via a peripheralinterface 5056. Examples of a peripheral interface include, but are notlimited to, a serial port, a USB connection, a FIREWIRE connection, aparallel connection, and any combinations thereof.

General Disclosure Aspects

The systems, methods, apparatuses, software, etc. of the presentinvention have been exemplified by various exemplary embodiments andimplementations as shown in the accompanying drawings and as describedabove. However, it should be understood that the discrete presentationof these embodiments and implementations should not be construed asrequiring that: 1) these embodiments and implementations stand inisolation from one another; 2) that individual components, features,aspects, and/or functionalities described relative to each one of theembodiments and implementations cannot be used independently of thecorresponding embodiment or implementation; and 3) that individualcomponents, features, aspects, and/or functionalities described cannotbe used individually in connection with other embodiments andimplementations, either described herein or derivable therefrom, aloneand/or in any combination with one another. On the contrary, thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that the individual components,features, aspects, and functionalities of a particular embodiment orimplementation can, as appropriate under the circumstances, be utilizedalone and in any subcombination with other components, features,aspects, and/or functionalities of that particular embodiment orimplementation and with any other embodiment or implementation,including the specific examples described herein in connection withFIGS. 1 through 50.

For example, it is noted that some implementations described aboveinclude a monitoring system, a dosing calculator, and a dosing system.However, in alternative embodiments of those implementations, only oneor only two of the three components may be present. For example, someimplementations may include only a monitoring system, otherimplementations may include only a dosing calculator, still otherimplementations may include only a dosing system, furtherimplementations may include a monitoring system and a dosing calculator,still further implementations may include a dosing calculator and adosing system, and yet still further implementations may include amonitoring system and a dosing system.

In other examples, specific components, features, aspects, andfunctionalities of chemical indicator apparatuses, such as shape of theholder, presence or absence of one or more cleaning elements, type ofchemical indicator(s), number of indicators, presence or absence of oneor more water passages, presence or absence of one or more waterfilters, presence or absence of one or more light filters, presence orabsence of a temperature sensor, presence or absence of one or moreinformation storage devices, presence or absence of one or more positionindicators, arrangement of indicator(s), etc., can be used on anychemical indicator apparatus that fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure, individually, or together within one another in any suitablecombination or subcombination. In addition, any resulting chemicalindicator apparatus made accordingly can be used with any suitablyconfigured monitoring system that fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure, such as any one of the monitoring systems specificallyillustrated in the accompanying figures and/or described above.

Similarly, any one or more of the robustness features, aspects, andfunctionalities described above, such as multi-read fault detection,fluorescent-reading contamination compensation, ambient lightcompensation, chemical indicator age compensation, friction testing,dosing protection, and dosing rate protection, among others, can be usedindividually and in any combination with one another and/or with anyother suitable components, features, aspects, and functionalities, suchas the components, features, aspects, and functionalities, describedherein with respect to specific embodiments and implementations ofnon-robustness features, aspects, and functionalities. In addition, therobustness features, aspects, and functionalities can be used with anymonitoring system, measuring system, and monitor falling within thescope of the present disclosure, including the specific monitoringsystems, measuring systems, and monitors described herein.

Likewise, any one or more of the components, features, aspects, andfunctionalities of the exemplary enhancements and alternatives describedabove, such as a linear combined I/LC, an ambient light analysisapparatus, a stationary-magnet magnetic drive, a cylindrical chemicalindicator apparatus, individually and group-wise replaceable chemicalindicator elements, and growth-rate control, among others, can be usedindividually and in any combination with one another and/or with anyother suitable components, features, aspects, and functionalities, suchas the components, features, aspects, and functionalities, describedherein with respect to specific embodiments and implementations ofmonitoring systems, measuring systems, monitors, chemical indicatorapparatuses, and dosing calculators falling within the scope of thepresent disclosure, including the specific monitoring systems, measuringsystems, monitors, chemical indicator apparatuses, and dosingcalculators described herein.

Furthermore, it is noted that all of the forgoing description of thevastness of inter-combinability, combinations, and subcombinations ofthe various components, features, aspects, and functionalities ofembodiments and implementations that fall within the scope of thepresent disclosure, including the specific examples of such describedherein and illustrated in FIGS. 1-44 and 50, is equally applicable toany of the specific setups described herein, including, but not limitedto, standard aquarium setups, customized aquarium setups, hiddenaquarium setups, non-aquarium closed-loop setups, and open-loop setups.

Exemplary embodiments have been disclosed above and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. It will be understood by those skilled in the artthat various changes, omissions and additions may be made to that whichis specifically disclosed herein without departing from the spirit andscope of the present invention. The following claims include dependentclaims for each independent claim that are shown without multipledependencies. It is contemplated that each of the dependent claims for agiven independent claim could alternatively be multiply dependent fromany one or more of the preceding claims for that independent claim.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of monitoring errors in an aquaticenvironment monitoring system, the method comprising: measuring one ormore error values in the environment monitoring system using theenvironment monitoring system, said measuring one or more error valuesincluding: rotating a disc-shaped chemical indicator apparatus of theenvironment monitoring system in a clockwise direction and taking one ormore clockwise readings from the chemical indicator apparatus with anoptical reader of the environment monitoring system; rotating thedisc-shaped chemical indicator apparatus in a counter-clockwisedirection and taking one or more counter-clockwise readings from thechemical indicator apparatus with the optical reader; correlating theone or more clockwise readings with the one or more counter-clockwisereadings to generate a friction error value; determining at least oneconfidence level based on the one or more error values; determining ifthe confidence level exceeds a threshold value stored in associated withthe environment monitoring system; and generating a correctioninstruction using a dosing calculator associated with the environmentmonitoring system, the correction instruction for correcting a conditionassociated with the one or more error values.
 2. A method according toclaim 1, wherein the aquatic environment monitoring system includes oneor more chemical indicators on a chemical indicator holder and anoptical reader configured for illuminating and reading the one or morechemical indicators.
 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the oneor more error values includes an error value related to a conditionselected from the group consisting of a degradation in a chemicalindicator due to photo-aging, a degradation in a chemical indicator dueto water-aging, a physical contamination of a chemical indicator, anillumination imbalance related to an optical reader, a degradation of alight source of an optical reader, a physical contamination in waterbetween an optical reader and a chemical indicator, a displacement dueto friction between a chemical indicator apparatus and a monitoringunit, an error intrinsic in a chemical indicator, an error in distancebetween a chemical indicator apparatus and an optical reader, and anycombinations thereof.
 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein saiddetermining at least one confidence level includes using an error sourceaction matrix.
 5. A method according to claim 1, wherein said measuringone or more error values includes detecting a contamination between achemical indicator apparatus and an optical reader of the environmentmonitoring system, said detecting a contamination includes using one ormore measurement illuminations and one or more reference illuminationsof the chemical indicator apparatus by the optical reader.
 6. A methodaccording to claim 5, wherein the contamination between the chemicalindicator apparatus and the optical reader includes a contaminationselected from the group consisting of a contaminant on a chemicalindicator of the chemical indicator apparatus, a contaminant on asurface of the optical reader, a contaminant in water between theoptical reader and the chemical indicator apparatus, a physical defectin a chemical indicator of the chemical indicator apparatus, and anycombinations thereof.
 7. A method according to claim 1, wherein saidmeasuring one or more error values includes referencing a storedexpected value of a response from a chemical indicator with an actualdetected value of a response from the chemical indicator; anddetermining an error value from the relationship of the stored expectedvalue and the actual detected value.
 8. A method according to claim 1,wherein said measuring one or more error values includes determining anage of a chemical indicator of the environment monitoring system byreferencing one or more stored values representing the amount of lightillumination over time on the chemical indicator and/or referencing oneor more stored values representing the amount of time the chemicalindicator has been submersed in the water of the aquatic environment. 9.A method according to claim 1, wherein the correction instructionincludes an instruction selected from the group consisting of aninstruction to provide an alert to a user of the environment monitoringsystem to manually correct one or more error conditions, an instructionto the environment monitoring system to take an action to automaticallycorrect one or more error conditions, an instruction to the environmentmonitoring system to stop automatically dosing one or more constituentsto the aquatic environment, and any combinations thereof.
 10. Amachine-readable hardware storage medium including machine-executableinstructions for performing a method of monitoring errors in an aquaticenvironment monitoring system, the instructions comprising: a set ofinstructions for measuring one or more error values in the environmentmonitoring system using the environment monitoring system, said set ofinstructions for measuring one or more error values including: a set ofinstructions for rotating a disc-shaped chemical indicator apparatus ofthe environment monitoring system in a clockwise direction and takingone or more clockwise readings from the chemical indicator apparatuswith an optical reader of the environment monitoring system; a set ofinstructions for rotating the disc-shaped chemical indicator apparatusin a counter-clockwise direction and taking one or morecounter-clockwise readings from the chemical indicator apparatus withthe optical reader; a set of instructions for correlating the one ormore clockwise readings with the one or more counter-clockwise readingsto generate a friction error value; a set of instructions fordetermining at least one confidence level based on the one or more errorvalues; a set of instructions for determining if the confidence levelexceeds a threshold value stored in associated with the environmentmonitoring system; and a set of instructions for generating a correctioninstruction using a dosing calculator associated with the environmentmonitoring system, the correction instruction for correcting a conditionassociated with the one or more error values.
 11. A machine-readablehardware storage medium according to claim 10, wherein the aquaticenvironment monitoring system includes one or more chemical indicatorson a chemical indicator holder and an optical reader configured forilluminating and reading the one or more chemical indicators.
 12. Amachine-readable hardware storage medium according to claim 10, whereinthe one or more error values includes an error value related to acondition selected from the group consisting of a degradation in achemical indicator due to photo-aging, a degradation in a chemicalindicator due to water-aging, a physical contamination of a chemicalindicator, an illumination imbalance related to an optical reader, adegradation of a light source of an optical reader, a physicalcontamination in water between an optical reader and a chemicalindicator, a displacement due to friction between a chemical indicatorapparatus and a monitoring unit, an error intrinsic in a chemicalindicator, an error in distance between a chemical indicator apparatusand an optical reader, and any combinations thereof.
 13. Amachine-readable hardware storage medium according to claim 10, whereinsaid set of instructions for determining at least one confidence levelincludes a set of instructions for using an error source action matrix.14. A machine-readable hardware storage medium according to claim 10,wherein said set of instructions for measuring one or more error valuesincludes a set of instructions for detecting a contamination between achemical indicator apparatus and an optical reader of the environmentmonitoring system, said set of instructions for detecting acontamination includes a set of instructions for using one or moremeasurement illuminations and one or more reference illuminations of thechemical indicator apparatus by the optical reader.
 15. Amachine-readable hardware storage medium according to claim 14, whereinthe contamination between the chemical indicator apparatus and theoptical reader includes a contamination selected from the groupconsisting of a contaminant on a chemical indicator of the chemicalindicator apparatus, a contaminant on a surface of the optical reader, acontaminant in water between the optical reader and the chemicalindicator apparatus, a physical defect in a chemical indicator of thechemical indicator apparatus, and any combinations thereof.
 16. Amachine-readable hardware storage medium according to claim 10, whereinsaid set of instructions for measuring one or more error values includesa set of instructions for referencing a stored expected value of aresponse from a chemical indicator with an actual detected value of aresponse from the chemical indicator; and a set of instructions fordetermining an error value from the relationship of the stored expectedvalue and the actual detected value.
 17. A machine-readable hardwarestorage medium according to claim 10, wherein said set of instructionsfor measuring one or more error values includes a set of instructionsfor determining an age of a chemical indicator of the environmentmonitoring system by referencing one or more stored values representingthe amount of light illumination over time on the chemical indicatorand/or referencing one or more stored values representing the amount oftime the chemical indicator has been submersed in the water of theaquatic environment.
 18. A machine-readable hardware storage mediumaccording to claim 10, wherein the correction instruction includes aninstruction selected from the group consisting of an instruction toprovide an alert to a user of the environment monitoring system tomanually correct one or more error conditions, an instruction to theenvironment monitoring system to take an action to automatically correctone or more error conditions, an instruction to the environmentmonitoring system to stop automatically dosing one or more constituentsto the aquatic environment, and any combinations thereof.